Knave,
The Class Action, at least in it's expansive form, is a relatively new phenomenon in my jurisdiction, Ontario, because of a recent revision to our Rule of Civil Procedure. You know what drives the proliferation of class action suits? The huge fees available to the lawyers. There are other factors, but that's the biggest factor, by far. The legal creativity which even the mediocre lawyer will employ in the service of a potentially huge contingent fee is one of the wonders of nature - or one of the terrors. The Summary Judgement procedure isn't much of a shield because our Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal have made it clear that novel theories of liability, and questions of credibilty, should not be adjudicated at that stage, or at least should be given a very wide degree of latitude. The real control is supposed to be at the certification stage, because these types of actions are supposed to be reviewed and approved by a Judge in advance of their institution. It's hard to see how, as far as an examination of the merits are concerned, the certification test can be more restrictive than one for summary judgement.
And the cases that do get thrown out or cannot, for financial or other reasons, proceed, often are the ones that should. But that's another thread, or another long paper, which I don't want to write and, believe me, you don't want to read
