Lexpert met à l’honneur l’excellence de Davies en litige

The cases included among the Top 10 Business Decisions are:

Sanis Health Inc. v. British Columbia, 2024 SCC 40, a constitutional decision of the Supreme Court of Canada arising within the broader context of novel class action proceedings initiated by the Province of British Columbia on behalf of all Canadian provincial governments and the Federal government. These proceedings make claims against opioid manufacturers and distributors in an effort to recover health care costs associated with the opioid crisis. The high-profile litigation involves claims alleged to exceed $86-billion against numerous defendants and has generated multiple appeals, the outcomes of which are expected to shape the future of class action and tort litigation in Canada. Davies represents McKesson Corporation and McKesson Canada Corporation in defending the British Columbia action and multiple other related lawsuits nationwide. In the course of the litigation, Davies secured an important victory for the McKesson defendants, successfully opposing efforts to introduce American-style public nuisance opioid-related claims into Canadian law. The Davies team is led by Sandra Forbes and Chanakya Sethi.

Republic of India c. CCDM Holdings, 2024 QCCA 1620, appeal proceedings in which Davies represented the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The proceedings arose from attempts by alleged creditors of the Republic of India to seize funds held by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on behalf of AAI in satisfaction of arbitral awards against the Republic of India. On appeal, the Québec Court of Appeal addressed three Superior Court judgments, including two involving AAI: one that had quashed a pre judgment seizure against AAI and another interpreting a recent Québec statute restricting the seizure of assets held by IATA. Separately, during the pendency of the appeal proceedings, Davies obtained a dismissal of plaintiffs’ seizure of AAI’s assets on the basis of AAI’s state immunity. That decision, which endorsed Davies’ arguments in clarifying what constitutes an “agency” of a foreign state under Canada’s State Immunity Act, is currently under appeal. Across these proceedings, the courts have considered significant and complex legal questions, including regarding the scope of state immunity for foreign states and their agencies, the interaction between provincial procedural law and state immunity, and the procedural requirements for international service under the Hague Convention as incorporated in Québec law. The Davies team was led by William Brock and Corey Omer.

Aquino v. Bondfield Construction Co., 2024 SCC 31 and Scott v. Golden Oaks Enterprises Inc., 2024 SCC 32, two landmark commercial cases in which Davies acted for the Insolvency Institute of Canada as an intervener before the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court’s decisions in both cases serve as significant precedents on the application of the corporate attribution doctrine, including the liability of corporations for the fraudulent actions of their principals in the insolvency context. The Davies team was led by Natasha MacParland and Chanakya Sethi.