The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50805
to continue with their divestiture and other restructuring efforts and to con- tinue to work toward the development of a plan of arrangement under CCAA. The company's portfolio of patents still has to be auctioned off and is worth $1 billion. An initial bidder was to be named last month. As well, Ontario's Superintendent of Financial Services has provided consent to Morneau Shepell Ltd., which admin- isters the Nortel pension plans, to start new pension payments at a level of 50 per cent of full entitlement, which will be topped up by Ontario's Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund. While Quebec pension legislation does not permit the com- mencement of new pension payments to those not already receiving a pension, they will get temporary advance pay- ments from the administrator that will be deducted, with interest, from the com- muted value transfer that will ultimately be paid to them. In January, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the U.K. Pensions Regulator's application for leave to appeal. The Ontario Court of Appeal had previously upheld a decision of the Ontario Superior Court, providing that the results of certain foreign proceed- ings were unenforceable in Canada. The SCC's decision means that results reached in U.K. proceedings involving Nortel's U.K. pension plan will not be enforceable in the Canadian court sys- tem. A notice posted on Koskie Minsky's web site notes the SCC's decision "does not mean that U.K. parties are prohib- ited from asserting a pension claim in Canada. Rather, parties in the U.K. and other European countries will have an opportunity to file a claim in Canada through the EMEA Claims Procedure Order, which was granted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on January 14, 2011. Such claims must be filed with the Monitor by March 18, 2011. Please note that the EMEA Claims Procedure Order does not affect pensioners, for- mer employees or disabled employees, as those claims will be subject to a separate Compensation Claims Procedure, the details of which currently remain subject to discussion." Despite its complexity and no real end in sight for lawyers and courts to finally clean up the Nortel mat- ter, all who are involved say it's been a compelling case to learn from. As Ogilvys' Tay says: "I can say that this case has strengthened my ability to problem solve and there's been great co-operation between all the lawyers involved," he says. "I thought I had done it all before this but this has been an inspiring experience that will last for a long time." Carfagnini also believes the matter will provide a road map for other global insolvencies, bankruptcies, and restruc- turing which lawyers in many jurisdic- tions can learn from. "This has been a very good exercise of three jurisdic- tions working together co-operatively," he says. "It's been a complex but very interesting experience." Client's IP at Risk? Our bite is even worse than our roar. We are accomplished trial lawyers with years of study in science and engineering and we have the courtroom successes to prove it. It's treacherous out there, so if your client's IP is threatened – talk to us. it all starts somewhere www.ridoutmaybee.com Editors of the Canadian Patent Reporter www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A PRIL 2011 35 dout_CL_July_10.indd 1 6/17/10 3:10:05 PM