Melaney Wagner

In the context of CCAA proceedings, representative counsel for pharmacist franchisees brought a motion for approval of their fees and disbursements totaling approximately $1.95 million.

The Pharmacy Franchisee Association of Canada and several individual pharmacists objected to the fees on various grounds, including the allocation of fees and the overall amount.

The court dismissed the objections, finding that the fees were properly allocated based on when claims were resolved and that the total amount was fair and reasonable given the complexity of the matter, the time expended, and the results achieved.

The fee request was approved in full.

In the context of CCAA proceedings for Target Canada, the Monitor brought a motion for a declaration that the claim of a pharmacist franchisee, T-Pharma, was fully and finally resolved except for the amount to be deducted for mitigation.

The assignee of the claim opposed the motion, raising various issues including claims for reimbursement of bank loans and legal retainers.

The court found that the respondent's objections were impermissible collateral attacks attempting to re-litigate issues already decided by the Claims Officer and upheld on appeal.

The court granted the Monitor's declaration and set a schedule for determining the final mitigation amount.

In the context of Target Canada's CCAA proceedings, the Monitor sought advice and directions on whether to accept amended claims filed by Bell Canada and Bell Nexxia.

Bell sought to increase its original claims by approximately $4.1 million due to inadvertent calculation errors discovered after the claims bar date and after the original claims were admitted.

Target Corporation opposed the amendment.

Applying the Blue Range test, the court found that Bell acted in good faith, the errors were inadvertent, and admitting the amended claims would not cause relative prejudice to other creditors.

The court directed the Monitor to accept the amended claims for review, with Bell to bear the reasonable costs incurred by the Monitor and Target Canada due to the error.

The applicant, a major Canadian toy retailer, sought an initial order under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) due to a liquidity crisis triggered by the bankruptcy filing of its US parent company.

The court granted the initial order, including a stay of proceedings to stabilize operations ahead of the holiday season.

The court also approved a debtor-in-possession (DIP) lending facility to replace existing secured debt and fund ongoing operations, while limiting the DIP lenders' enforcement rights to require court approval.

Provisions allowing the Monitor to pay pre-filing claims of critical suppliers and establishing charges for administration and directors/officers were also approved.

The applicant, owner of a biomass electrical co-generation facility, sought an Initial Order under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Facing significant debt, construction liens, and operational difficulties, the applicant required a stay of proceedings to implement a sales and investment solicitation process.

The court granted the Initial Order, including a stay of proceedings, authorization to pay critical pre-filing supplier expenses, approval of a $5 million DIP financing facility with a priority charge, and a sealing order over sensitive commercial information.

The applicants, comprising the Cinram Group, sought an Initial Order under the CCAA.

The court found that the applicants were debtor companies and insolvent, facing a looming liquidity crisis.

The court granted the Initial Order, which included a stay of proceedings extended to non-applicant subsidiaries, authorization to pay critical pre-filing obligations, and approval of various charges including a $15 million DIP financing charge, a $3.5 million administration charge, a $13 million directors' and officers' charge, and a $3 million KERP charge.

The court also authorized the foreign representative to seek recognition under Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

The moving parties sought leave to appeal an order approving a settlement in the CCAA proceedings of Nortel Networks.

The Court of Appeal denied leave, finding no procedural or substantive unfairness in the settlement.

The motion judge had carefully balanced the various interests at stake and made no demonstrable error.