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There was a time only a few short years ago when the U.S. courts were the preferred forum for the litigation of securities class actions claims, arguably even claims whose relationship to the U.S. and to U.S. laws was slight. The U.S. courts role as preferred forum for securities suits was undermined by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, which underscored the fact that the U.S. securities laws apply only to domestic U.S. securities transactions. Since Morrison, a free-ranging inquiry has emerged to determine whether another country’s courts might emerge as the preferred forum for cross-border securities suits.

Among other countries, Canada has emerged as a candidate. However, a recent decision by Court of Appeal of Ontario examining the jurisdictional reach of Ontario’s securities laws expressly rejects the possibility that Ontario (where the bulk of Canadian securities suits are filed) “would become the default jurisdiction for issuers around the world.”  The Court of Appeal’s July 11, 2018 decision in Yip v. HSBC Holdings can be found here. An August 9, 2018 memo from the Toronto-based Blake, Cassels & Graydon law firm can be found here.
Continue Reading Ontario Court Rejects “Jurisdictional Overreach” for Canadian Securities Suits

James R. Lane

As I have noted in prior posts, securities class action litigation represents a significant part of the corporate liability landscape in Canada. In the following guest post, James R. Lane, a founding partner of the Toronto law firm of Bersenas Jacobsen Chouest Thomson Blackburn LLP, takes a look at a recent important decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal addressing director and officer liability issues under the Ontario Securities Act. A version of this article previously was published as an alert to the law firm’s clients. I would like to thank Jim for his willingness to allow me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Jim’s guest post.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Directors and Officers Must Defend Secondary Market Misrepresentation Claim

can flag 2A number of countries have procedural mechanisms allowing groups of aggrieved parties to pursue their legal claims in the form of a collective action. While no other country has a class action mechanism quite like that of the United States, another country that also has well-developed class action mechanisms is Canada. However, unlike the United

In its landmark decision Morrison v National Australia Bank, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the U.S. securities laws do not apply to share transactions that do not take place on U.S. securities exchanges. But do these principles operate the same way in other jurisdiction — would courts in other jurisdictions decline to apply

In a February 14, 2011 order (here), an Ontario Superior Court Justice has denied the motion of the defendants in the IMAX securities lawsuit pending in Ontario for leave to appeal the December 2009 rulings of Ontario Superior Court Justice Katherine van Rensberg granting the plaintiffs leave to pursue securities claims in a

In a landmark development for private securities litigation in Canada, a Justice of the Ontario Superior Court has ruled that a proposed securities suit against IMAX under Ontario’s new statutory provisions allowing private securities litigation may proceed. The court separately certified a global class of IMAX investors on whose behalf the case will now proceed.

According to a December 14