What is the effect of a motion judge's refusal to certify a claim for common issues?

While I find no fault with the motion judge’s understanding of the underlying principles in Whiten v. Pilot Insurance Co., his decision to refuse to certify having regard to those principles is clearly at odds with many other judgments, and brings about an unfortunate result. Although the motion judge sees no denial of access to justice resulting from his decision, it is certainly debatable that a denial of justice is an inevitable outcome. If the 6000 elderly plaintiffs who are in poor health wish to pursue a claim for punitive damages, they will be obliged, after the common issues trial, after the waiver of tort quantification, and after the trials or hearings of individual issues, to then pursue 6000 individual trials or hearings to determine their entitlement to, and to quantify punitive damages, an issue which largely focuses on alleged misconduct by the plaintiffs that is common to all defendants.