The Plaintiff and her former spouse refinanced their home in May 2015, with their mortgage set for renewal in May 2019. Upon receiving a renewal letter from the Defendant offering various renewal options, the Plaintiff did not choose any of the voluntary renewal terms. Consequently, the Defendant applied the automatic renewal agreement from the renewal letter, which had an interest rate of 9.99%. Unable to make mortgage payments at this higher rate, the Plaintiff defaulted on the mortgage and eventually sold the property. The Plaintiff claims that due to the automatic renewal, she incurred additional interest, fees, and costs.
The Plaintiff brought a consent motion to certify a class proceeding for settlement purposes only. Justice J.T. Akbarali reviewed the criteria under section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act and granted the motion, certifying the action as a class proceeding.