Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Acted on a pro bono basis for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association as intervener in S.L. v. Commission scolaire des Chênes, in which the Supreme Court of Canada had to decide the circumstances under which parents may request that their children be excused from attending mandatory classes on the basis that they interfere with their freedom of religion.

BCE Inc.

Acted for BCE Inc. and Bell Canada in a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in a landmark commercial case involving the proposed $51.7 billion privatization of BCE. The decision of the Supreme Court in this case set the standard in Canada for approval of plans of arrangement and claims of oppression. It also clarified the law concerning the duties of directors of public companies faced with potential change of control transactions. This case also resulted in the fastest commercial appeal ever heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was heard by the Court and decided unanimously in favour of BCE less than 30 days after BCE launched its application for leave to appeal from a decision of the Québec Court of Appeal revoking approval for BCE's proposed plan of arrangement that had been granted by Justice Silcoff of the Quebec Superior Court following a lengthy and highly expedited trial.

Ludco Enterprises Ltd.

Acted for Ludco Enterprises Ltd. in its successful challenge of federal income tax assessments in relation to the issue of deductibility of interest on borrowed money used to purchase shares (before the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada).

Pharmascience Inc.

Acted successfully for Pharmascience Inc. and secured the dismissal of a $3.9-billion class action against manufacturers of generic medications in relation to allegations of improper pricing of medications subsidized under the provincial drug insurance system.

Concordia University

Acted successfully for Concordia University in the Bisaillon v Concordia University case before the Supreme Court of Canada. Davies argued that the Superior Court had no jurisdiction to entertain a class action initiated by Bisaillon claiming the payment by Concordia of well over $100 million to the pension fund of its employees.

Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Acted successfully on behalf of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in favour of Wal-Mart before the Supreme Court of Canada in an appeal concerning the scope of the employer's right to cease operations, even where the alleged reason for the business closure was the employer's unwillingness to deal with a union that had recently obtained certification of the workplace. The majority of the Supreme Court held that although anti-union animus could, in principle, constitute the basis for awarding compensation under the unfair labour practice provisions of the Québec Labour Code, the wrongful dismissal provisions assumed the continued existence of a workplace.

Highshare Inc.

Acting for various taxpayers in a tax appeal before the Court of Appeal of Québec in proceedings against Revenu Québec, concerning the qualification of a tax shelter. 

EDF Renewables Canada Inc.

Acted for EDF Renewables Canada Inc. in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada to determine if three wind-farm facilities in Québec constitute inventory or capital property for tax purposes.

Confidential client

Representing a high-net-worth individual before the Tax Court of Canada in a dispute involving foreign exchange forward contracts in what is commonly referred to as "straddle" trading.

Confidential Client

Acting for a confidential client, as an innocent third party in an investigation, led by Québec's permanent anti-corruption unit.

Beauward Real Estate inc., Schokbeton Québec Inc. and Saramac

Acted successfully for Beauward Real Estate inc., Schokbeton Québec Inc. and Saramac before the Superior Court of Québec, the Court of Appeal of Québec and the Supreme Court of Canada on a challenge of search warrants and production orders issued by a judge and executed in multiple locations by the Québec Revenue Agency as part of the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit of Québec.

Confidential Individuals

Acting on behalf of confidential clients in a challenge of multiple search warrants executed in multiple locations by the Québec's Revenue Agency in the context of an investigation being jointly conducted with the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force. The case was heard by the Superior Court of Québec, the Court of Appeal of Québec and is now before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Hillcore Financial Corporation

Acting for Hillcore Financial Corporation and related entities (the Taxpayers) in their dispute before the Tax Court of Canada with respect to trading in foreign exchange derivative contracts and other related disputes.

Mario Montminy et al.

Successfully represented Mario Montminy and others at the Federal Court of Appeal against the Canada Revenue Agency in a stock option deduction dispute. The court sided with the taxpayers on the eligibility of their deductions.

Private Equity Firm

Representing a private equity group before the Tax Court of Canada in connection with a dispute involving foreign exchange forward contracts in what is commonly referred to as "straddle" trading undertaken by a substantial number of taxpayers.

Via Rail Canada Inc.

Acting for Via Rail Canada Inc. in connection with a fuel tax dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Estate of Paul G. Desmarais

Acted for the estate of the late Paul G. Desmarais in connection with proceedings instituted by the late Louis R. Desmarais. The plaintiff claimed from the estate of his late brother, Paul G. Desmarais, the sum of $75 million on the basis of a promise allegedly made orally in the late 1970s to return shares of Power Corporation of Canada. On April 26, 2017, after the trial and while the case was under advisement, the plaintiff dropped the proceedings in their entirety.

Glen French

Successfully acted for Glen French before the Federal Court of Appeal in a case involving charitable donations, and specifically how the Québec civil law informs the meaning of the word "gift" in the Income Tax Act across Canada. The case is serving as a representative case (either officially or de facto) for over 300 other appeals before the Tax Court of Canada concerning leveraged donations.

Michael Rosenberg

Acted successfully for Michael Rosenberg before the Federal Court of Canada ("FCC") in an application for judicial review in regards to a demand letter sent by the Canada Revenue Agency ("CRA") pursuant to section 231.1 of the Income Tax Act. The application sought the enforcement of a settlement agreement entered into with the CRA at the conclusion of an extensive audit. The CRA argued that the settlement agreement should be repudiated as no agreement could bar the Minister of National Revenue ("Minister") from conducting another audit of previously audited taxation years. In quashing the demand letter, the FCC found that the settlement agreement was binding on the Minister and required the CRA to comply with the terms therein.

4032799 Canada Inc et al.

Successfully represented the developers of the Bell Campus on Nun's Island, Montréal, in a dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency before the Tax Court of Canada involving the proposed application of the general anti-avoidance rule.

J.G. Guy Simard et al.

Acted for Colonel J.G. Guy Simard (retired) and other taxpayers who participated in the "Synergy Program", a program designed to provide funding for start-up businesses, in their dispute before the Tax Court of Canada with the Canada Revenue Agency over the deductibility of related losses. The appeals served as de facto representative cases for approximately 4000 other taxpayers who contested potentially over two hundred million dollars in tax deductions.

Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Acted on a pro bono basis for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association as intervener in Loyola High School v. Attorney General of Quebec, 2015 SCC 12, where the Supreme Court of Canada had to determine, in the context of a mandatory pedagogical program, the proper balance between the objectives of promoting tolerance and respect for difference, on the one hand, and the religious freedom of the members of a particular community, on the other hand. The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously adopted the position advocated by the CCLA on the collective aspects of freedom of religion.

Hydro-Québec

Acted for Hydro-Québec before the Québec Court of Appeal in its appeal against a judgment of the Québec Superior Court awarding $27 281 556 in damages to Construction Kiewit Cie., a contractor hired by the public utility company to build a hydroelectric dam for $111M. Kiewit originally claimed $59 355 847 for various losses which were allegedly incurred during construction as result of either force majeure or Hydro-Québec's fault.

André Drouin

Acted successfully for André Drouin, a taxpayer who purchased a franchise in a software development company, in connection with his appeal before the Tax Court of Canada against a Canada Revenue Agency assessment denying all deductions related to his franchise. The appeal served as a de facto representative case for approximately 300 other investors contesting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax deductions.

Pharmascience Inc.

Acted for Pharmascience Inc. in the defence of an action challenging the legality (on various grounds, including alleged violations of the Competition Act) of the so-called "pseudogeneric" or "ultrageneric" drug market.

Business Council on the Environment

Acted for the Québec Business Council on the Environment in connection with its intervention before the Supreme Court of Canada in St. Lawrence Cement, the first environmental class action case emanating from Québec which the Supreme Court agreed to hear since the inception of the class action regime in Québec.

Confidential Clients

Acted on behalf of more than one hundred taxpayers in the successful settlement of reassessments issued pursuant to retroactive tax amendments designed to curtail a very significant interprovincial tax structure.

Confidential Client

Acted on behalf of an individual against a reassessment issued by the Québec Revenue Agency denying the deduction of interests after the source of income had been disposed of at a loss.

Québec Court Tackles Novel Issues During Approval of the Second Remediation Agreement (a.k.a. Deferred Prosecution Agreement) Under the Canadian Criminal Code

May 23, 2023 - The Superior Court of Québec recently published its reasons¹ approving Canada’s second remediation agreement under the Criminal Code, Canada’s version of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). In his reasons, Justice Marc David expanded on the principles applicable to Canada’s...

The Right Not to Be Subjected to Cruel and Unusual Treatment or Punishment: The Case of Minimum Fines

May 18, 2021 - The Court of Appeal of Québec (CAQ) handed down its decision in Bédard c. Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales on 4 March 2021 (Bédard).¹ The judgment contains an interesting consideration of section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and...

OECD Report: The Role of Corporations in Fighting White Collar Crime Enablers

Apr. 12, 2021 - The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report in February 2021 titled “Ending the Shell Game: Cracking Down on the Professionals Who Enable Tax and White Collar Crimes” (Report), which highlights the role that “professional enablers” play in the commission of...