Jeremy Martin is a class action defence lawyer with a specialty in product liability and mass tort cases. Jeremy is often retained by clients and other lawyers to advise on unconventional, complex or sensitive files. In each case, Jeremy encourages his clients to think outside the framework of litigation, choosing and winning battles before they are fought. As part of his practice, Jeremy has spearheaded numerous domestic and international product recalls, crisis management situations and ADR frameworks. He currently shares his expertise with the next generation of litigators as an adjunct professor of civil procedure at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Representative work includes:
- Managing real-time response teams for blue-chip manufacturers and service providers in international regulator and certification body inspections, recalls, and civil actions
- Overseeing crisis response and legal defence for mass casualty incidents such as fires and floods; food, drug and environment contamination; and multi-victim criminal acts
- Pioneering trauma-informed resolution methods in institutional abuse class actions
- Deploying creative tactics to resolve class actions prior to service of the claim
- Confidentially and conclusively resolving blackmail, extortion and corporate espionage cases
- Winning a two-week trial preserving the balance of power in Canada’s Parliament by defeating allegations of corrupt practices under the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9
Jeremy has frequently been cited for his expertise in class action law and litigation strategy. In advance of the Ontario government’s amendments to the Class Proceedings Act in 2020, Jeremy acted as Chair of an ad hoc working group of Bay Street class action defence specialists providing submissions to the government. His comments were solicited by the Law Commission of Ontario in finalizing its report on class action reform, and he was invited to testify before the Legislature on the amendments as an expert witness. His writing on class actions has been adopted into law by several courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada in the groundbreaking Babstock case, which eliminated a developing cause of action against class action defendants. For these and other contributions, the Ontario Bar Association awarded him the 2021 Heather McArthur Memorial Young Lawyers’ Award for exceptional achievements in the development of the law for the benefit of the profession and citizens of Ontario.
Variously recognized by Best Lawyers, Lexpert and Lexology Who’s Who as one of the leading product liability, product regulation and class action defence counsel in Canada, Jeremy recently served as Chair of the Class Actions section of the Ontario Bar Association. He is a six-time co-author of Ontario’s leading textbook on civil procedure and a frequent speaker at class action conferences across North America.
