As late as mid-December 2005, plaintiffs’ lawyers were poised to take advantage of Bill 198, which amends Ontario’s Securities Act. The new law, which took effect Dec. 31, 2005, created the first Canadian regime to impose civil liability for inaccurate or incomplete written and spoken corporate disclosures in the secondary market.
But on Dec. 15, 2005, the Ontario Court of Appeal broadsided the plaintiffs’ bar by reversing the May 2004 judgment of Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman in the groundbreaking case Kerr v. Danier.
