Class Actions

While class actions are more prevalent in the United States, they are coming to Canada. In the words of Thomas Kierans, Chairman of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research - "Class action suits are coming to Canada. You can smell it." (1) 

There are many situations where it would be prohibitively costly for a single investor to undertake a legal battle. In the absence of a better complaint process mechanism in Canada, investors need to band together for group action. A number of such groups are already actively pursuing claims. A number of Class Actions have been turned down by the courts, but one of these days ...

This list of class action suits is far from complete, but provides the small investor with some background information on class action suits in general.

Cauley Class Action re Ashanti Goldfields

Stephen E. Cauley Class Action re Ashanti Goldfields - The Law Offices of Steven E. Cauley, P.A. announced today that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of all persons who purchased the common stock of Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited, Inc. between July 28, 1999, and October 5, 1999, inclusive (the "Class Period").

You should read this notice if you acquired common shares (or installment receipts) in Boliden Limited, as offered by a prospectus dated June 10, 1997 (the “Prospectus”), in one of the provinces of Canada other than New Brunswick or Alberta, and retained all or part of these shares on April 25, 1998. 

CV Technologies Class Action - 2007 July

A $110-million consumer class-action lawsuit against CV Technologies lawsuit was filed in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto by two law firms, Siskinds LLP of London, Ont. and Sutt Strosberg LLP of Windsor. The action, based on Ontario's new investor legislation, arose from CV Tech's June restatement of finances, after it was discovered earlier this year that U.S. sales of lead product Cold-fX were vastly inflated. The suit was filed by two investors on behalf of any Canadians who acquired CV Technologies (TSX:CVT) shares between Dec. 11, 2006 and June 2007.

The two legal firms have set up a website with information for shareholders who may want to join the action, www.coldfxclassaction.com. CV Technologies and the other named defendants have not yet been served with copies of the action and no court date has been set.

Enron Class Action

Enron Class Action by the Gottesdiener Law Firm. U.S. federal class action lawsuit, Kemper v. Enron Corp, filed in Houston November 26, 2001. The firm states "for years Enron materially misled investors concerning the Company's profitability".

FMFClass Action

The settlement for the FMF Class Action has been approved by all courts and the notices of the approval have been published.  Class members are now submitting their claim forms. The deadline to file a claim with the Claims Administrator is August 13, 2007. For additional information contact: Siskinds LLP, 680 Waterloo Street, London, ON N6A 3V8, tel: (519) 660-7868, Fax: (519) 660-7869

Finkelstein Class Action - May 26, 2000

The Finkelstein Class Action represents a Plaintiff seeking to recover damages on behalf of all investors who purchased Espire stock during the Class Period and who suffered damages as a result, and is represented by the law firm of Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran, of Washington, DC.

Gordon-Daly Grenadier Class Action

The Financial Post reports on September 14, 2000, that Siskind, Cromarty, Ivey & Dowler has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Rose Hill, a plaintiff who lost 86% of her $70,000 investment. The lawsuit asks for $10 million which other investors would have access to.

Milberg et al Class Actions - March 8, 2000

Milberg et al Class Actions - Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP of New York have issued a notice regarding several class actions regarding securities in several companies including amongst others: Cinar Corp. and Ashanti Goldfields.

Klein Lyons Class Action re Boliden - May 28, 2006

Klein Lyons Class Action re Boliden was settled in 2007. NOTICE for the Class Action was posted on these pages prior to the settlement. 

Reference

(1) Thomas Kierans, Chairman of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research says

"Class action suits are coming to Canada. You can smell it. When you're living in the world I'm living in, you know it's coming like a freight train. I certainly acknowledge the impatience that people have with the scandals that we have had [saying] 'Where were the directors, where were the regulators?' "

Read the complete article in the Financial Post Saturday, April 29, 2000 edition by Rod McQueen entitled "A Bay Street Man in Full".