Andrew Charles Crichton Parley

The appellants, residents of Ecuador, brought negligence actions against Copper Mesa Mining Corporation, its directors, and the TSX defendants for alleged human rights abuses committed by security forces in connection with a mining project in Ecuador.

The appellants claimed the TSX defendants owed a duty of care not to list Copper Mesa's shares, and the directors owed a duty to avoid acts contributing to the abuses.

The Court of Appeal upheld the motions judge's decision to strike the claims under Rule 21.01(1)(b), finding that the pleadings failed to establish the requisite foreseeability and proximity under the Cooper-Anns test to ground a novel duty of care.

The plaintiffs sought leave to appeal an interlocutory order transferring three related actions to the Commercial List.

The plaintiffs argued that the actions, which alleged negligence against the defendants for their involvement in mining operations in Ecuador, were not commercial in nature.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion, finding no good reason to doubt the correctness of the motion judge's discretionary decision to transfer the actions, as the pleadings relied on commercial statutes and raised issues of corporate governance.

The court also found that the proposed appeal did not involve matters of general public importance.

The appellant physician appealed a decision of the Discipline Committee finding him guilty of professional misconduct for obstructing a College investigation into a complaint against another physician.

The appellant argued the Committee lacked jurisdiction, erred in denying a stay of proceedings, and made an unreasonable finding of misconduct.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, holding that the Executive Committee had broad statutory authority to refer the matter, the doctrines of issue estoppel and abuse of process did not apply, and the finding that the appellant intentionally provided false information to mislead the investigation was reasonable.