ALBERTA
Bennett Jones has remained an historic institution in its native Calgary, where it first opened in 1920. “We will have at least one or two files with Bennett Jones every year in perpetuity,” states one peer bluntly. Munaf Mohamed has etched an equally prominent profile in the Calgary market for his no-nonsensecourtroom demeanor and his acumen with cases involving sensitive issues related to fraud. One peer’s opinion resonates as a general consensus: “Munaf continues to be the most aggressive and effective litigator in Calgary, without question.” Mohamed put his prowess with fraud claims to perhaps its most visible test leading a firm team representing a group of Saudi companies in advancing one of the largest fraud claims in Canada against a high-ranking former Minister of Cabinet in the former Saudi government, who is alleged– along with a number of close family and friends and the former Crown Prince– of embezzling a massive amount of money and moving it into various offshore havens and who, once stripped of his titles and position, fled to Canada. A worldwide freezing order has been obtained against the former Minister, together with various other extraordinary orders. A peer exclaims, “Everyone is talking about this case!” Mohamed and Michael Mysak successfully represented NEP Canada ULC, the plaintiff, in significant litigation involving post-M&A matters. These involved complicated issues of reservoir engineering, oil and gas infrastructure, valuation methods and fraud relating to gross misrepresentations made within a share-purchase agreement. The plaintiff obtained a $185 million judgment, plus costs and interest, which will make the total well over $200 million, for fraud and breach of contract arising from misrepresentations made by the vendor in selling infrastructure assets. Blair Yorke-Slader continues to enjoy a profile in the market that is unanimously considered “very marquis” by peers. Yorke-Slader provides lead trial counsel for 801 Seventh, which owns a 37-story building in downtown Calgary. The tenant leased virtually all of the building under a lease that ran until 2031. After reducing its workforce, the tenant sought to reduce its lease burden by pointing to the presence of trace amounts of asbestos in the fireproofing. Though extensive testing showed the building had been and remained safe, in May 2019 the tenant fled the building– leaving a building in downtown Calgary virtually vacant– terminated the lease and sued for $70 million. 801 has countersued both the tenant and its Chinese parent company and guarantor for $500 million.
ONTARIO
The firm’s Toronto office, which in recent years has raced ahead in a market prominence to rival its Calgary headquarters, continues to be in growth mode. Competition specialists
John Rook and
Emrys Davis are acting for Quebecor and its wholly owned subsidiary Videotron in connection with the Competition Bureau's application to block Rogers Communications’ $26 billion acquisition of Shaw Communications and the related $2.85 billion divestiture of Shaw's Freedom Mobile business to Videotron. This real-time litigation commenced in May 2022. “This the biggest competition case in Canada right now, bar none,” declares a peer. Davis
is championed by a fellow competition peer for his “great technical expertise but a lot of rough-and-ready litigation experience. He’s practical, he’s thoughtful, great person to deal with.”Arguably one of the Toronto office’s most prolific and visible litigators, Mike Eizenga is known on a national level for his acuity and savvy with class-actions. As well as being one of the most recognized figures in this capacity, he is also one of the most revered. “Mike is the lawyer I think most class-action lawyers want to be like,” speculates a peer leader in this practice, who, it should be noted, is outside of Ontario. “He can do it all – he’s got experience from his days on the plaintiffside and he can also go anywhere and get respect for this.” Eizenga
acts for 60 defendants, including the Canadian Hockey League, its three member leagues, and all of their teams, in two class actions (Alberta and Ontario) involving former junior hockey players who allege that they were harassed, bullied and physically and sexually assaulted while playing in Canada's major junior hockey leagues. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants were systemically negligent, breached their fiduciary duties and are vicariously liable for actions of employees, players and agents. The certification motion and preliminary motions were heard in November 2022. The decisions are under reserve. While Eizenga’s position as an undisputed class actions leader is secure,
Cheryl Woodin has also emerged as a leader in this practice, particularly in matters concerning the automotive industry. Woodin represents Travelers of Canada and St. Paul's Fire and Marine, two of 16 insurers named in class actions alleging improper handling of statutory automobile accident benefits arising from their alleged improper subtracting of Harmonized Sales Tax from benefits awarded to claimants. The insurers successfully dismissed the claims on jurisdictional grounds, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal for Ontario. The Supreme Court of Canada denied the plaintiffs' leave application in January 2022, bringing this matter to an end. Woodin also acted for another insurance carrier, Dominion of Canada, in COVID-related business interruption claims. Woodin also acts with securities firebrand
Robert Staley in representing Tetra Tech, a global provider of engineering and consulting services, in a putative securities class action commenced on behalf of investors of a publicly traded mining company who claim that their investments in the mining company’s public offering were made under the reliance of a technical report that was later alleged to contain an erroneous overstatement of assets.
Perennial favorite and Toronto mainstay
Jeffrey Leon was selected to act as co-lead counsel to the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is undertaking public hearings related to the invocation of the Emergencies Act by the Canadian Federal Government in February 2022 in response to the “Freedom Convoy” that assembled on Parliament Hill and throughout downtown Ottawa, Canada and other protests at various locations in Canada.
