Biographical notes for Kent Thomson

Contributing Editor, Credit and Banking Litigation (CB) 1993–

"Classification of Creditors and the Excessive Fragmentation of Classes" (1993) 1 CB 9 (co-authored with Peter B. Birkness and Michael Weinczok)

"Class Action Scheme Found to Be Misuse of Class Proceedings Act" (1995) 2 CB 54 (co-authored with John P. Koch)

"The Paramountcy of Federal Bankruptcy Priorities Over Provincial Lien Interests" (1996) 3 CB 123 (co-authored with Mark A. Drumbl)

"Hercules Management Ltd. v. Ernst & Young: Narrowing the Scope of Auditors' Liability" (1997) 4 CB 210 (co-authored with Adam Brebner and Paul Dufays)

"Royal Bank v. W. Got & Asociates Ltd: When Can a Creditor Be Liable for the Actions of a Court Appointed Receiver?" (1998) 5 CB 244 (co-authored with Jamie Todd)

Mr. Thomson practises litigation, with an emphasis on competition law and commercial disputes. He has appeared at all levels of court in Ontario, including the Court of Appeal, as well as the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also appeared before the courts of Manitoba, and has been involved in extensive litigation in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and other jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe. His extensive competition law experience includes a number of civil and criminal matters involving international price fixing and market allocation conspiracies, as well as cases involving price maintenance, bid-rigging, misleading advertising, predatory pricing, price discrimination, reviewable trade practices and mergers. He has appeared as counsel before the Competition Tribunal, a federal tribunal responsible for adjudicating upon alleged violations of the civil provisions of the Competition Act. He has acted as counsel on a number of significant competition law cases including the representation of: a multi-national corporation in relation to an alleged international conspiracy to fix prices in the thermal fax paper market; a multi-national corporation in relation to an alleged international conspiracy to fix prices in the supply of manufacturing products; a large corporation in complex Federal Court proceedings relating to alleged predatory pricing in the cellular telephone market; a multi-national chemical company in civil and criminal proceedings in Canada, the United States and Europe relating to an alleged conspiracy to fix prices and allocate markets in the vitamin industry; a multi-national chemical and pharmaceutical company in the first anti-trust action ever certified as a class action in Canada; a large brewing company in a complex international arbitration conducted pursuant to the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association which involved, among other things, restraint of trade issues; a financial services firm in merger proceedings before the Competition Tribunal relating to the barge and tug boat industries in British Columbia; the Competition Bureau in relation to the merger of Molson and Carling O'Keefe; the Competition Bureau in a lengthy investigation (and potential prosecution) of price discrimination; the Commissioner of Competition in merger proceedings before the Competition Tribunal concerning the dairy industry; Canada Post Corporation before the Competition Bureau in connection with Canada Post's acquisition of Purolator Courier Limited; and Rogers Communications Inc., Petro Canada, Abitibi and a variety of others in contentious merger proceedings before the Competition Bureau. He has also been involved in a number of recent cases in the Commercial List of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, including cases under the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act for clients such as Cadillac Fairview and the Bank of Nova Scotia. He has represented clients in product liability and related litigation and was counsel in the Thomas v. Hamilton Board of Education case, one of the most recent decisions of the Ontario Court of Appeal concerning serious athletic injuries. He acted as counsel for the plaintiff in Hill v. Church of Scientology, ultimately decided by the Supreme Court of Canada, which resulted in the largest libel award in Canadian history. He acted as counsel for the Bank in the Continental Bank case, recently decided in favour of the Bank by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has become the leading decision in Canada concerning the proper tax treatment of partnership transactions. He also acted as counsel for the plaintiff in Confederation Life v. Shepherd, McKenzie, decided by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which resulted in one of the largest professional negligence awards in Canada.