Securities litigation

Get tailored legal advice from a team with significant experience in securities litigation. Our team will explore all avenues to find the right result for your securities dispute.

Whether you need strategic advice on securities law or representation in court on contested issues, we can give you inventive solutions to meet your objectives. Our team has appeared before the provincial securities commissions, the major Canadian stock exchanges and courts, as well as in arbitration hearings.

We often work with:

Public and private companies
Minor and major shareholders
Boards of directors and special committees
Corporate officers
Investment dealers
Brokers and senior management

What we do

Get advice from us on shareholder and corporate governance disputes, hostile takeover bids, oppression claims and proxy contests. We can also help you with:

Share valuation proceedings
Director and officer liability issues
Change of control transactions
Contested mergers and acquisitions, both bid and defence work
Plans of arrangement and corporate reorganizations
Insider trading issues
Derivative actions
Class actions
Securities commission investigative and enforcement proceedings
Securities law compliance issues

"Burnet Duckworth & Palmer is exceptional at litigating complex matters, while also understanding the commercial and strategic elements of such litigation matters." Chambers 2025

Representative work

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P's $6.8 billion acquisition of Inter Pipeline Ltd.

Counsel to Inter Pipeline Ltd. in its acquisition by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P pursuant to a statutory plan of arrangement for $6.8 billion.

Precedent-setting securities law decision

Successfully represented Inter Pipeline Ltd. (IPL) in a precedent-setting case before the Alberta Securities Commission. The case addressed Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P.'s use of total return swaps in its takeover bid of IPL. The decision is the first time that a Canadian securities regulator has directly addressed the use of total return swaps within the context of takeover bids following the changes to the Canadian takeover bid regime in 2016. (Re Bison Acquisition Corp., 2021 ABASC 100).

Court approval of contested plan of arrangement

Successfully obtained court approval of a shareholders'-rights-focused plan of arrangement over the objections of those seeking creditor rights protections (Re Perpetual Energy Inc., 2021 ABQB 718).

Successful defense of an ASC application from a dissident shareholder

Successful defense of an application brought by a dissident shareholder seeking public interest orders under the Alberta Securities Act relating to proxy solicitation processes utilized in a hostile proxy contest. (PointNorth Capital Inc., 2017 ABASC 121).

Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd.'s proxy contest defense

Counsel to Liquor Stores in the defense of a proxy contest initiated by a dissident institutional shareholder to gain control of Liquor Stores' board of directors. BD&P’s work included the successful defense of Liquor Stores' soliciting dealer fee arrangement before a hearing of the Alberta Securities Commission.

Shareholder and co-director oppression dispute

Successfully obtained an injunction against a director and officer to stop the oppression of a minority shareholder and co-director.

Perpetual Energy Inc.'s restructuring and settlement of convertible debentures

Counsel to Perpetual Energy Inc. regarding recapitalization transactions, including a $25 million backstopped rights offering, settlement of 7.00% convertible debentures and a successfully contested Alberta Securities Commission hearing. (Re Perpetual Energy Inc., 2015 ABASC 2)

Successful summary judgment for a confidential client

Successfully obtained summary judgment compelling a departing shareholder-director to sell his shares based on a valuation formula set out in an unanimous shareholders agreement and successfully opposed an oppression action.

Successful defense of insider trading allegations

Counsel to the senior management team of a mining company in the successful defense of insider trading allegations before Alberta Securities Commission. (Stan, Re, 2013 ABASC 148).

Successful defense of insider trading allegations

Counsel to major shareholder of industrial services company in successful defense of insider trading allegations before Alberta Securities Commission. (Holtby, Re, 2013 ABASC 45)

Application before the Alberta Securities Commission for Paladin Labs Inc. in hostile takeover bid

Counsel to Paladin Labs Inc. in connection with a hostile takeover bid for Afexa, the makers of ColdFx, including in an application before the Alberta Securities Commission to set aside Afexa's rights plan. (Afexa Life Sciences Inc., Re, 2011 ABASC 532)

Successful settlement in a $10 million securities class action

Counsel to class plaintiffs in a $10 million real-estate based securities class action (successfully settled).

Shareholder oppression dispute

Counsel in a complex, multi-contract, shareholder oppression and director/officer liability dispute.

Action by New York hedge funds as former unsecured noteholder

Counsel to the former directors of Lightstream Resources Ltd. in a lawsuit brought by New York hedge funds as former unsecured noteholders.

Dispute regarding breach of duties

Counsel to current and former boards of directors of a chartered bank in a derivative action for breach of duties arising out of an FX manipulation lawsuit