A battle of mining giants regarding rights of first refusal: Ontario Superior Court of Justice upholds GoldCorp’s acquisition of a 70% interest in El Morro mining project *

Canada - July 5 2012
On June 26, 2012, Justice Wilton-Siegel of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released his decision in Barrick Gold Corporation v. Goldcorp Inc. et al. dismissing Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick)’s claim that Goldcorp Inc. (Goldcorp)’s acquisition of a 70% interest in the El Morro copper/gold project (El Morro) breached the shareholders’ agreement governing El Morro and Barrick’s conditional agreement with Xstrata Copper Chile S.A. (Xstrata) to purchase the 70% interest.

Co-authors: Geoffrey Hunnisett, Mark Gelowitz, Douglas Bryce.

The path forward: poison pills in Canada after Pulse Data, Neo and Lions Gate *

Canada - September 30 2010
Recent decisions of the Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia securities commissions on applications to set aside shareholder rights plans or "poison pills" adopted in response to a hostile take-over bid have called into question whether Canadian securities regulators now hold a consistent view as to when it will be appropriate for a commission to intervene to remove a shareholder rights plan as an obstacle to individual shareholders deciding for themselves whether to tender their shares to the bid.

Co-authors: Cameron A. MacDonald.

Ontario Court of Appeal clarifies jurisdiction rules – the Muscutt test receives a much-needed "tune up" *

Canada - February 4 2010
In its recently released decision in Van Breda v. Village Resorts Limited (Van Breda), the Ontario Court of Appeal has provided a welcome clarification to the “real and substantial connection” test to be applied in determining whether Ontario courts should assume jurisdiction over out-of-province defendants.

Co-authors: Andrea Laing, Rob Carson.