Court of Appeal Limits Ontario Jurisdiction Over Securities Class Actions Involving Foreign Issuers

The Ontario Court of Appeal has placed an important limitation on securities class actions in Ontario.  In Kaynes v. BP, the Court ruled that Ontario is not the preferred jurisdiction for secondary market liability class actions involving securities purchased on foreign stock exchanges, notwithstanding where the holders of these securities reside.  The decision aligns Ontario practice with that of the U.S. and U.K., where the courts’ jurisdiction is limited by statute to cases where the securities at issue are purchased on domestic exchanges.  The result is that secondary market liability class actions in Ontario will be limited to cases where the claimants purchased their securities in Canada.