A Bit of an Ending: The Bre‐X Litigation, Class Actions and the Liability of Professionals Available to Purchase

The notion of suing professionals — lawyers, brokers, accountants — appears to make good financial sense. It seems fiscally sensible because, while an offender may melt into the night, take up residence in a foreign haven or otherwise dissipate his assets, established professionals usually have sufficient property at their disposal to make their pursuit through the civil court economically prudent. Shareholders in the Bre‐X affair sought, through a class action, to hold analysts and stockbrokers accountable for losses sustained when the price of Bre‐X shares suddenly collapsed in 1997. A decision in late November 1999 not to appeal a ruling of an Ontario Superior Court signals but a tiny ending to a messy multi‐million‐dollar scandal and to the quest to attach responsibility to a group of professionals. It is a tiny ending because it was the individualistic character of the legal issues in the context of the exigencies of the Ontario legislation, rather than the merits of the underlying claim, that foreclosed this attempt to hold professionals liable for financial losses.