Supreme Court Clarifies Balance Between Deterrence And Protection In Securities Class Actions

On December 4, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada (the "SCC") issued its decision in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v. Green, 2015 SCC 60. In the highly anticipated decision, a deeply divided Court rendered their reasons for a trilogy of appeals that arose from securities class action cases against CIBC, IMAX Corporation, and Celestica Inc. In each case the plaintiff respondents sought damages under the common law tort of negligent misrepresentation as well as under the new statutory cause of action found at s. 138.8 of the Ontario Securities Act (the "OSA") in respect of shares trading in the secondary market. In split decisions, the SCC dismissed the appeals of CIBC (4-3) and IMAX (4-3) and allowed the appeal of Celestica (4-3).