Superior Court refuses to certify $100 million auditor’s negligence class action
In a decision released early this year, Mr. Justice Paul Perell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice refused to certify a proposed $100 million class action against the former auditor of disgraced portfolio management firm, Crystal Wealth Management Systems Ltd. Certification was denied on the basis that the Crystal Wealth’s auditor owed no duty of care to holders of the units of mutual funds managed and sold by Crystal Wealth. The proposed representative plaintiffs in Whitehouse v. BDO Canada LLP were former holders of units in mutual funds sold by Crystal Wealth – a discretionary portfolio management firm specializing ... [more] Full article
Failure to Disclose Fees on Investment Accounts can be a Breach of Fiduciary Duty
On February 28, 2020, a judge of the Ontario Superior Court granted judgment in a class action and awarded an accounting of the profits realized by three Bank of Montreal ... [more] Full article
The Supreme Court’s Nevsun Decision Firmly Incorporates Customary International Law into Canadian Common Law in the Class Action Context
Can a Canadian company be held liable in Canada for breaches of International Law abroad? One of the Supreme Court of Canada’s most recent decisions definitively answers that question in ... [more] Full article
How Serious Must a Breach of Privacy be to Certify a Class Action?
In 2012, the Ontario Court of Appeal changed the face of privacy law in Ontario by creating a tort called “intrusion upon seclusion”. The tort, set out in the decision ... [more] Full article