ERDC Update: Ready for Another Round in the Electronic Rights Battle

On Monday I had the pleasure of meeting the expanded legal team for the Electronic Rights Defence Committee. You’ll remember that this is the 12-year-long class action to win compensation for the unauthorized electronic use of freelancers work by The Gazette and assorted others. After what seemed to be interminable delays despite the sterling work of the ERDC’s lawyer Mireille Goulet, the class action was authorized by the Quebec Superior Court this spring.

Now the hard part really begins, and Mireille advised us that she was going to need some help. That she has got the case this far is a real David and Goliath story, but a one-person law office just doesn’t have the resources to go head-to-head with some of the country’s biggest law firms. So she scouted around and found Sylvestre Fafard Painchaud, a Montreal firm that was one of the first to take on class actions when enabling legislation was passed a couple of decades ago. I must say I was most favourablly impressed by the two lawyers who will now be working with Mireille, Pierre Sylvestre and Catherine Sylvestre (others from the firm may join them occasionally, too.)

So I think we’re ready for the next round...