Shara Roy

The Investigative Receiver sought various forms of relief, including a sealing order over asset valuations and an order requiring the respondent and his wife to disclose the use of proceeds from a $2.4 million mortgage on their family home.

The court granted the sealing order, finding it met the requirements of Sherman Estate.

The court also ordered the disclosure of the mortgage proceeds, finding the respondent's claim of ignorance regarding the funds to be not credible and determining that the information fell within the Receiver's investigative mandate.

The plaintiffs brought motions to compel the examination of a defendant on behalf of a corporate defendant and for further and better affidavits of documents from several defendants.

The parties agreed to dismiss the examination motion and portions of the production motion without prejudice.

The court ordered one defendant to produce certain financial documents relevant to personal enrichment and an itemized Schedule B list, but dismissed the remaining requests for further documents and better email descriptors, finding insufficient evidence of missing documents and that the current descriptors were proportionate.

Following a successful motion by the defendants to prevent the plaintiffs from using extra-jurisdictional procedures to acquire documents from non-parties, the defendants sought partial indemnity costs of $75,365.38.

The plaintiffs argued for reduced costs of $15,000, citing the novelty and public interest of the issue under section 31 of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

The court rejected the plaintiffs' argument, finding the issue was not legally novel in a way that justified denying costs and noting the plaintiffs' conduct was improper.

The court awarded the defendants their costs as claimed.

The court-appointed Manager moved for approval of its fees, its counsel's fees, and a proposed Fee Allocation Methodology to distribute the costs among various properties in a complex real estate receivership.

Several mortgagees and lien claimants opposed the fee approval and the allocation methodology, arguing that time was not docketed on a property-by-property basis and that the methodology was unfair.

The court approved the fees and the methodology, finding that strict property-by-property accounting would be cost-prohibitive and that the proposed allocation was fair and equitable.

The court also rejected arguments that the Manager's charge should be subordinated to prior liens or subject to the doctrine of marshalling.

The plaintiff, who was previously investigated for stock fraud and entered into a settlement agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission, sued 67 defendants for malicious prosecution, negligent investigation, and other torts.

Ten motions were brought by 64 defendants to strike the pleadings and dismiss the actions.

The court dismissed the action against the Attorney General of Ontario because the malicious prosecution claim could not succeed, as the criminal proceedings were stayed pursuant to a settlement and thus not terminated in the plaintiff's favour.

The actions against the remaining moving defendants were dismissed as an abuse of process because they attempted to re-litigate facts already settled or judicially determined in prior proceedings.

In CCAA restructuring proceedings, shareholder class action plaintiffs sought to limit the scope of a stay of proceedings so that certification, leave, and amendment motions in related Ontario and Quebec securities class actions could proceed against auditors, underwriters, and former directors.

The court applied the established test for lifting a CCAA stay, considering relative prejudice, balance of convenience, and the merits.

Given the pending appeal concerning whether shareholder claims constituted “equity claims” under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the imminent creditor meeting regarding a proposed plan of arrangement, the court found that maintaining the stay temporarily would avoid prejudice and promote orderly proceedings.

The court held that the balance of convenience favoured maintaining the stay so that the auditors and underwriters could focus on the appeal and restructuring process.

The motion to limit the stay was dismissed without prejudice to renewal after the creditor meeting.

The moving parties in a proposed securities misrepresentation class proceeding sought court approval of a third‑party litigation funding agreement prior to certification.

The proposed agreement provided that the funder would pay certain disbursements and indemnify the plaintiffs against adverse costs in exchange for a capped commission from any settlement or judgment.

The court considered the developing law on litigation funding, including concerns about champerty and maintenance, and confirmed that such agreements are not categorically unlawful but require judicial approval.

Finding that the agreement preserved counsel’s independence, protected defendants through security for costs, and promoted access to justice, the court approved the funding arrangement.

In a proposed securities class action alleging misrepresentations in the primary and secondary markets, the plaintiffs sought an order compelling defendants to deliver statements of defence and requested that the certification motion be heard together with a leave motion under s. 138.8 of the Securities Act.

The defendants opposed delivering defences before certification and sought a sequence of motions beginning with the leave motion, followed by Rule 21 motions and then certification.

The court held that pleadings should generally be completed before certification and that ordering the delivery of a statement of defence was not contrary to law or due process.

However, the court limited the requirement to defendants who filed affidavits under s. 138.8(2) of the Securities Act, while permitting other defendants to plead voluntarily without losing the ability to bring Rule 21 motions.

The court further ordered that the leave motion and certification motion be heard together to avoid delay, inefficiency, and serial appeals.