Sotos Class Actions

A class action lawsuit seeking $1 billion in damages on behalf of Canadian investors was launched last week in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The class action alleges that the defendants, including The Bank of Nova Scotia, conspired to manipulate prices in the gold market under the guise of the benchmark fixing process, known as the London PM Fixing, for a ten-year period.

U.S. civil subpoenas and civil subpoenas from other foreign courts have no legal effect in Canada. Canada is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil of Commercial Matters. The only way to compel Canadian evidence in a civil foreign proceeding is to apply for “letters rogatory” or […]

Edward Snowden, the “Heartbleed” computer bug and Sony computer hacks are major news stories that have caused everyone to become sensitive to privacy issues. More than ever, privacy breaches raise major reputational and legal liabilities for all companies. Automobile dealers’ privacy policies and practices are under greater scrutiny. In the U.S., dealerships are increasingly viewed […]

The Canadian Competition Bureau is taking a “keen interest” in patent litigation settlements between brand and generic drug manufacturers.  It has taken the view that such settlements could actually be anti-competitive, competitor collaborations in breach of the Competition Act. Pharmaceutical regulation in Canada In Canada pharmaceutical medicines are federally regulated.  Health Canada regulates both “innovator” […]

Price-fixing conspiracies harm retailers and consumers by forcing them to pay unlawful overcharges on products and services.  The Competition Act, which regulates business conduct throughout Canada, allows retailers and consumers to recover any losses that they suffered as a result of such unlawful conspiracies.  Without this important remedy, retailers and consumers could not obtain compensation […]

A class action lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages on behalf of Canadian consumers who purchased Lenovo computers that came with pre-installed Superfish software (“Superfish“) was launched March 11, 2015 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. As stated in the claim, “Superfish is potentially dangerous and may allow anyone on a Wi-Fi network to […]

When two separate class actions are brought over the same subject matter, courts are sometimes required to decide which action should take precedence and which team of lawyers should be given “carriage” of the dispute. The court found that the class members would be best served by allowing the claim brought by the Sotos/Siskinds team to proceed and by staying the competing action.