K. Richard

The plaintiff, a former shareholder of the corporate defendant, brought motions for leave to commence a secondary market liability action under the Securities Act and for certification as a class proceeding.

The defendants filed affidavits opposing the motions.

The plaintiff served requests to inspect hundreds of confidential documents mentioned in the affidavits under Rule 30.04(2) prior to cross-examinations.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the requests lacked specificity, relevance, and proportionality, and that allowing such a fishing expedition would undermine the statutory gatekeeping purpose of the Securities Act leave provisions.

The applicant and respondent submitted proposals for the appointment of an interim receiver/manager of the respondent corporation pending a shareholder meeting.

The court approved the powers set out in the applicant's proposed order.

While both proposed firms were qualified, the court appointed Duff + Phelps over Deloitte & Touche to avoid any appearance of a lack of independence, given prior contact between a director of the respondent and a representative of Deloitte.