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Celestica Inc. in its successful appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada to uphold the limitation period for bringing a statutory secondary market securities class action in Trustees of the Millwright Regional Council of Ontario Pension Trust Fund v. Celestica Inc. et al. The decision makes several important observations relating to the interplay between the Ontario Securities Act and the Class Proceedings Act.
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BDO LLP in successfully defeating certification of a proposed investment fund class action. Whitehouse v. BDO represents an important development in the law regarding auditors’ duties of care to investors (subject to appeal). Blakes also represented BDO LLP in related enforcement proceedings.
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The lead underwriters in securities class actions in Ontario and Quebec against HEXO Corp., a cannabis producer. The plaintiff alleges that HEXO made material misrepresentations in its primary and secondary market disclosures.
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A major Canadian financial institution in a proposed class action alleging that mutual fund trustees and managers improperly paid a portion of the commissions collected on mutual funds to “order-execution only” brokers, while those brokers did not provide any advice or services to investors, in contrast to full service brokerages.
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The Stars Group Inc. (“TSGI”) in successfully defending an urgent proceeding brought by certain investment funds to prevent the conversion of convertible preferred shares in the capital of TSGI into common shares worth more than $2.3 billion.
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Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. in defending a securities class action seeking damages for the decrease in value of units of Horizons’ BetaPro S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Daily Inverse ETF.
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KPMG in its role as auditor to CannTrust in proposed securities class action involving claims that misrepresentations with respect to unlicensed growing and storage of cannabis caused resulted in shareholder losses.
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Olympia Trust Company in seven class actions against real estate development and financing companies and other related parties in respect of syndicated mortgage investments in different real estate development projects in Ontario and Alberta. Blakes succeeded in having certification dismissed in one of the actions, which dismissal was upheld on appeal. The other actions are at the pleading stage.
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A major Canadian financial institution in a proposed class action brought in British Columbia, alleging that managers of a mutual fund, contrary to disclosures in fund documents, followed a “closet indexing” investment strategy that simply replicated the fund’s benchmark index.
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The six largest Canadian accounting firms in connection with submissions to the Ontario Law Commission on Class Action Reform and subsequent submissions to the Standing Committee of the Ontario Legislature on Justice Policy in connection with Bill 161, which implements changes to Ontario’s class action regime.
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Bank of America/Merrill Lynch entities in two related class actions brought in the Ontario Superior Court and the Federal Court involving allegations regarding the manipulation of the market for SSA Bonds. The matter was settled on favourable terms.
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Bank of Nova Scotia in a series of proposed class action proceedings filed in Quebec and Ontario relating to alleged market manipulation pertaining to benchmarks affecting gold and silver markets.
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Hudson’s Bay Company (“HBC”) and the Special Committee of independent directors of HBC in a proceeding before the Ontario Securities Commission relating to its proposal for the privatization of the Company.
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A discount brokerage in proposed class actions in Ontario and B.C. alleging that order-execution-only brokerages improperly collected trailing commission fees on mutual fund sales without providing any advice or services to investors, in contrast to full-service brokerages.
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A former officer of an Alberta corporation in a national class action involving allegations of primary and secondary market misrepresentation.
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A mutual fund trustee in the defence of a class action in Quebec based on allegations of misappropriation of funds and securities fraud.
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A Special Committee of the Board of an Ontario public issuer, in conducting an internal investigation into issues of compensation, conflicts of interest, and breach of fiduciary duty by senior management.
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An international investment bank in an OSC regulatory investigation, probing alleged negligence regarding securities offerings of an Ontario public issuer.