We have significant experience in class action litigation, on a broad variety of provincial and national class actions that encompass a full range of sectors, industries and issues. We have provided strategic advice about litigation strategies at the pre-certification and certification stages of class action proceedings. We have also represented clients through complex settlement negotiations, as well as through trial and appellate class proceedings. Some of our counsel have been recognized as leading class action practitioners in Canada. Our representative class action experience includes the following: * Counsel on a large class proceeding involving the liability of national credit reporting agencies for alleged inaccurate credit reporting. * Counsel for many publishers in a class proceeding alleging breach of copyright by electronic re-publication of works on electronic databases. * Counsel for the Province of British Columbia in one of the first trilogy of cases before the Supreme Court of Canada to determine the legal tests and principles applicable to the certification of class actions. The case related to the certification of a class action for sexual abuse and misconduct in an institutional environment. We represented the Province at every level of the proceeding, up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada. * Acted on numerous securities class actions in Ontario and Alberta relating to misrepresentation in prospectus or offering memoranda involving the liability of public issuers including those in the oil and gas sector and the liability of Directors and Officers, underwriters, auditors and other professional advisors. * Acted as lead counsel on the Danier Leather Inc. class action for investors which was successful after a 50 day trial, although reversed on a point of law in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada (this is one of the few class actions in Canada that has proceeded through contested certification and trial and appeal). * Acted as co-lead counsel for the Canadian investors on the US$2.8 billion Nortel class action for Canadian investors in Nortel which involved working with counsel from across Canada and in New York in a cross-border context. * Acted for a major financial institution in a prospectus and secondary market liability class action dealing with the liability of directors and officers for corporate non disclosure of material information by a reporting issuer. * Acted for the Government of Alberta in defending claims in negligence made by a large group of Albertans who used pine shakes as home roofing material from 1989 to 1996. At trial, the Davis litigation team brought a successful non-suit application on the ground that no duty of care existed, with the result that the action was dismissed. The Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the Trial Judge's decision. * Counsel for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in two proposed class actions brought by plaintiffs seeking compensation for leaky condos. In both actions, certification was refused. In the second, the refusal was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court of Canada refused leave to appeal.
