Peter J. Pliszka

Peter Pliszka, a senior partner in Fasken’s Litigation Group, is regarded as one of Canada’s leading litigation lawyers. Peter’s practice is focused primarily on product liability, class action, commercial and insurance litigation matters, and it is national in scope. Peter manages litigation proceedings across Canada and has appeared at all levels of court in Ontario and other Canadian provinces as well as the Supreme Court of Canada.

Peter is Co-Leader of Fasken’s Life Sciences Group and the National Chair of the firm’s Product Liability and Insurance Practice Group.

Peter has substantial experience as defence counsel for manufacturing companies in private action and class action product liability and consumer rights proceedings. He has served as lead national defence counsel for clients in multi-jurisdictional and national product liability class actions in Canada involving motor vehicles, drugs, medical devices, food and sports equipment.

Peter also has extensive experience advising on Canadian defence of cross-border legal proceedings involving parallel claims on both sides of the Canada-US border. In this capacity, Peter closely collaborates with clients’ outside counsel in the US, developing and executing defence plans in a strategic and cost-efficient manner.

In addition to representing clients in lawsuits and other litigious proceedings (such as Coroners’ Inquests), Peter advises manufacturers, distributors, importers and retailers on the regulatory requirements of various products, risk management issues and corrective actions including product warnings and recalls.

Peter’s client base and his reputation are international in scope. He is regularly retained by clients from the US, Europe, and Asia in legal matters in Canada, and he has substantial experience in the area of private international law. In this context, Peter has been counsel in several leading cases respecting the law of jurisdiction in Canada. In particular, Peter was counsel for the foreign defendant in the precedent-setting Supreme Court of Canada case of Van Breda, which established a new (and improved, from the perspective of corporate defendants) test for determining when a Canadian court is entitled to take jurisdiction over a foreign defendant sued in a Canadian court.