Overview

• Chief Justice Michael H. Tulloch, writing for a unanimous panel, rejected the appeal to certify a single case spanning the CHL and its leagues and teams.
• The ruling upholds Justice Paul Perell’s 2023 finding that a proceeding with 78 defendants across 13 jurisdictions over nearly 50 years would be unmanageable.
• Judges emphasized that the decision concerns litigation structure and does not decide the truth of the abuse allegations.
• The court noted evidence of longstanding hazing and abuse in major junior hockey and said narrower, targeted class actions could be workable.
• The case was launched in 2020 by Daniel Carcillo, Garrett Taylor and Stephen Quirk, and plaintiffs’ lawyers said they are assessing next steps.