Excalibur: When Should An Ontario Court "Go-Global"?

In a recent blog post, we discussed the implications of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice's decision in Excalibur Special Opportunities LP v. Schwartz Levitsky Feldman LLP and, in particular, the findings in respect of the preferable procedure requirement for class certification. Notably, the decision is also instructive insofar as it contains an important discussion on the identifiable class requirement, namely, when should an Ontario court certify a global or national class?

The Decision And The Proposed Class

The proposed representative plaintiff was a Canadian investment fund that purchased privately-placed shares of a Chinese hog producer. The Private Placement Memorandum given to potential investors included a clean audit report prepared by the defendant, a Canadian accounting firm. When the company went bankrupt shortly thereafter, the plaintiff sued the defendant for negligence and negligent misrepresentation and sought to certify the action as