Patrick Plante is the Montréal regional manager for our Disputes – Commercial and Construction Group, a leadership position he has earned through his vast legal knowledge, meticulous work, and excellent client approach. A large part of his practice focuses on class actions in a wide range of industries such as environment, aerospace, product liability, consumer law, video gaming, banking, and privacy.
Patrick also delivers innovative solutions in general commercial litigation, administrative law, and disciplinary law, and handles a variety of civil and contractual liability lawsuits and special proceedings, including injunctions. With his passion for public and constitutional law, as well as his experience handling complex issues, he takes on cases of ambitious scope such as constitutional challenges to laws or regulations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and the Constitution of Canada. In addition, he represents and advises parties in disputes over official languages issues.
His clients’ appreciation of his work has earned him a place on the Thomson Reuters 2025 Stand-out Lawyers list. After featuring on Benchmark Litigation Canada’s “40 and Under Hotlist” for several years, Patrick is now recognized as a Litigation Star. Other distinctions, such as Lexpert and The Best Lawyers in Canada, attest to the quality of his practice, particularly in Class Actions and Corporate and Commercial Litigation.
Patrick has contributed to many important class action victories for BLG, often at the authorization stage. He was part of our litigation team in the following noteworthy proceedings:
- Procureur général du Québec c. Compagnie de chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique, which concerned a high-profile rail accident in Lac-Mégantic. Dismissal of the class action was confirmed on the merits by the Québec Court of Appeal in 2025, following an initial victory before the Superior Court of Québec in Ouellet c. Compagnie de chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique et al.;
- Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau c. Aéroports de Montréal, an environmental class action dismissed at the authorization stage by the Québec Court of Appeal;
- Haroch v. Toronto-Dominion et al., a class action challenging the mortgage prepayment charges levied by Bank of Montréal and other banks, dismissed for the second time at the authorization stage;
- Benabu c. Vidéotron et al., in which he successfully defended Google in a class action on automatic renewal of online subscriptions after a free trial;
- A class action regarding data breaches and price advertisement, where he defended StockX.
Patrick is now working on a number of class actions, including lawsuits against the video game industry in which he is defending TakeTwo Interactive Software, Rockstar Games, 2K and Zynga.
Although his practice remains rooted in litigation and advocacy, over the years Patrick has forged trusting relationships with major corporations that now see him as a strategic advisor. They solicit his opinion on their interactions with regulatory authorities and on ways to prevent litigation, or position themselves against possible disputes, such as clauses to include in contracts.
He not only helps prepare files for them but also pleads before all levels of court in Québec, including the Federal Court, and provides expertise in arbitration. His clients are based in Québec, the rest of Canada, the U.S., the European Union and other parts of the world. Patrick sits on our firm’s Partnership Admissions Advisory Committee.
Experience
- Participates in defending important class actions, and in particular:
- Defends the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in the class action relating to the Lac Mégantic accident (Ouellet c. Canadian Pacific Railway Company et al.). Two victories have been won before the Superior Court of Québec (2021) and the Québec Court of Appeal (2025).
- Defends HSBC in the Defrance Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) fee class action (Defrance et Vaillancourt-Thivierge c. Banque de Montréal et al.).
- Defends Google in a class action on privacy and data protection.
- Defends Peoples Trust Company in a class action regarding prepaid cards activation fees.
- Defends Take-Two Interactive Software, Rockstar Games, 2K and Zynga in class actions against the video game industry.
- Defended Aéroports de Montréal in class actions relating to aircraft noise pollution and the health hazard allegedly caused by airborne nanoparticles before the Superior Court of Québec and the Court of Appeal.
- Defended BMO in high-profile banking industry class actions (Haroch v. Toronto Dominion Bank et al., [500-06-000930-186] and Pilon c. Banque Amex du Canada [500-06-000899-183]).
- Defended Google in a class action on automatic renewal of online subscriptions after a free trial (Benabu c. Vidéotron et al.).
- Defended JTI-Macdonald Corp. in landmark class actions against tobacco manufacturers (Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé c. JTI-Macdonald Corp. et al. and Létourneau c. JTI-Macdonald Corp. et al.)
- Defended StockX in a class action regarding data breaches and price advertisement.
- Defends Chicago Title Insurance Company in a dispute against the Chambre des notaires du Québec arising from amendments to the Notaries Act.
- Represents and advises several entities in disputes connected to official languages issues.
- Represents and advises airport authorities across the country.
- Participated in the debate concerning the constitutional validity of the Tobacco-related Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act.
- Represented victims of defamatory campaigns on the Internet and took measures to protect their public image.
- Represented a Canadian financial institution before the courts in a dispute dealing with unjustified enrichment of adverse parties resulting from an error made in a bank transfer.
- Participated in the debate on prohibiting the disclosure in court proceedings of supervisory information sent to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
- Participates in defending important class actions, and in particular:
- Defends the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in the class action relating to the Lac Mégantic accident (Ouellet c. Canadian Pacific Railway Company et al.). Two victories have been won before the Superior Court of Québec (2021) and the Québec Court of Appeal (2025).
- Defends HSBC in the Defrance Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) fee class action (Defrance et Vaillancourt-Thivierge c. Banque de Montréal et al.).
- Defends Google in a class action on privacy and data protection.
- Defends Peoples Trust Company in a class action regarding prepaid cards activation fees.
- Defends Take-Two Interactive Software, Rockstar Games, 2K and Zynga in class actions against the video game industry.
- Defended Aéroports de Montréal in class actions relating to aircraft noise pollution and the health hazard allegedly caused by airborne nanoparticles before the Superior Court of Québec and the Court of Appeal.
- Defended BMO in high-profile banking industry class actions (Haroch v. Toronto Dominion Bank et al., [500-06-000930-186] and Pilon c. Banque Amex du Canada [500-06-000899-183]).
- Defended Google in a class action on automatic renewal of online subscriptions after a free trial (Benabu c. Vidéotron et al.).
- Defended JTI-Macdonald Corp. in landmark class actions against tobacco manufacturers (Conseil québécois sur le tabac et la santé c. JTI-Macdonald Corp. et al. and Létourneau c. JTI-Macdonald Corp. et al.)
- Defended StockX in a class action regarding data breaches and price advertisement.
- Defends Chicago Title Insurance Company in a dispute against the Chambre des notaires du Québec arising from amendments to the Notaries Act.
- Represents and advises several entities in disputes connected to official languages issues.
- Represents and advises airport authorities across the country.
- Participated in the debate concerning the constitutional validity of the Tobacco-related Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act.
- Represented victims of defamatory campaigns on the Internet and took measures to protect their public image.
- Represented a Canadian financial institution before the courts in a dispute dealing with unjustified enrichment of adverse parties resulting from an error made in a bank transfer.
- Participated in the debate on prohibiting the disclosure in court proceedings of supervisory information sent to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
