Frank C. Torchio

The plaintiffs in a securities class action brought a motion for default judgment against the defendant, Kai Kit Poon, a co-founder and former President of Sino-Forest Corporation.

Poon was noted in default and deemed to admit allegations of authorizing misrepresentations in corporate documents.

Relying on expert evidence calculating aggregate damages under the Securities Act, the court granted default judgment against Poon for $322,390,000, representing his 10% share of the total liability to the class.

The plaintiffs brought a motion for certification of a class proceeding and for leave to proceed with statutory claims for misrepresentation under the Securities Act against Celestica Inc. and its former executives.

The plaintiffs alleged misrepresentations regarding a 2005 restructuring, inventory, revenue, and GAAP compliance.

The court granted leave and certified the class action solely with respect to the alleged misrepresentations about the 2005 restructuring, finding a reasonable possibility of success.

Leave and certification were denied for the inventory, revenue, and GAAP claims due to a lack of evidentiary foundation.

The court also declined to certify the common law negligent misrepresentation claim, finding it did not satisfy the preferable procedure criterion.

The defendants brought a motion to amend the class definition in an Ontario securities class action to exclude persons who would be bound by a pending settlement in parallel U.S. class proceedings.

The U.S. settlement was conditional on the Ontario court granting this amendment.

The court applied the Currie factors and recognized the U.S. court's judgment approving the settlement, finding that the U.S. court had a real and substantial connection to the claims, and that the absent class members were accorded procedural fairness and adequate representation.

The court further determined that amending the class was the preferable procedure, as it would facilitate access to justice for the overlapping class members without unfairly prejudicing the remaining class members.

The motion was granted and the class definition was amended.