Class-action lawsuit over deadly Toronto shooting clears another legal hurdle

People read personal messages on a building under renovation, remembering the victims of a shooting on Sunday evening on Danforth, Ave. in Toronto on Monday, July 23, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will not review a ruling by Ontario’s top court allowing survivors of mass shooting to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against a gunmaker.

Eighteen-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis were killed, and 13 others were injured, when a gunman went on a shooting rampage on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue in July 2018.

The gunman, who used a stolen semi-automatic handgun made by Smith & Wesson, then turned the weapon on himself.

Some of the survivors and their families brought a class action against the gun manufacturer for failing to implement technology that would prevent unauthorized use of the gun, but the claim failed at the certification stage.

The motions judge found the plaintiffs’ negligence claim didn’t meet one of the criteria for certification which requires them to propose issues that are common to the members of the class.

Last year, Ontario’s Court of Appeal found the motions judge set the bar too high by essentially requiring the plaintiffs to prove their case on its merits at the certification stage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.