Can a Complaint to the OSC Prohibit a Criminal Prosecution? On May 29, 2018, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released its decision in R. v. Vuong and Quach, 2018 ONSC 3348. This case is helpful to fraud victims in terms of the information it provides about the interplay between police (criminal) and regulatory (securities commission) investigations, the appropriate body to which to make a complaint, and when this should …Read More

Liability of Agents in Loan Transactions In cases where fraud is not alleged and where only breach of contract is asserted, whether a transaction is characterized as a loan or an investment can be critical to whether judgment will be issued. If a transaction is viewed as an investment where the investor took on the risk, there may be no cause of action. If the transaction is viewed as a …Read More

On March 7, 2018, Justice Dunphy of the Superior Court of Justice, Commercial List, in Toronto, issued his judgment in the case of Atlas Copco Canada Inc. v. David Hillier, 2018 ONSC 1588. In this case, the plaintiff Atlas Copco Canada Inc. had brought a motion for summary judgment against one of the defendants – Mr. Plate – for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy. The Court dismissed Atlas …Read More

We are often asked by fraud victims for recovery information with respect to breaches of trust related to land transactions. We recently recovered $2.+M for victims of fraud in a land transaction where the initial investment was $1.+M. This recovery was obtained by way of a settlement on the evening before a four week trial was scheduled to commence. While our case involved a settlement, the facts were somewhat similar …Read More

The Supreme Court of Canada Issues Judgment on the Livent Case In a judgment dated December 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) rendered its decision in Deloitte & Touche v. Livent Inc. (Receiver of), 2017 SCC 63, creating a new standard for recovery for victim shareholders against auditors where the management of a company had engaged in fraud. Back in 2000, the shareholders of Livent sued Deloitte, alleging that the …Read More

It is commonly recognized that there are options open to a bankruptcy trustee that are not available in the fraud recovery civil litigation process, such as the compelling of documents and examinations without court orders. There can be considerable cost savings in the recovery process to a fraud victim by utilizing the bankruptcy courts. The downside to recovery through bankruptcy, however, is that the victim becomes one creditor of potentially …Read More