CCAA 4 : Minutes

Today was the fourth day of court hearings into the benefits extended to tobacco companies as a result of their gaining cover under Canada's Companies Creditor Arrangement Act.

Let's just say it was brief. The court sat for under ten minutes -- by my clock it was between 10:35 and 10:40 and again from 11:20 to 11:22.

As before, the real discussion is behind the scenes. At the normal court time of 10:00, the lawyers retreat en masse to a separate private meeting with the judge. As before, the open court session serves to record developments and agreements.

During those brief minutes today, we learned that:

• the concerns of the Genstar pensioners are heading to resolution. On May 14th a motion will be processed and on June 26th a settlement motion will be proposed.
• as signalled yesterday, the Ontario government will be able to file a "fresh and amended" claim against the companies, upping the amount it is seeking to $330 billion. For reasons not made public, Justice McEwen's agreement to this will be formally given on Monday instead of today.

Work it out yourselves...

By the actions of the dozens of lawyers in attendance (fewer each day, but still more than enough to fill a hockey bench), this backroom dealing and quick judicial approval seems to be part and parcel of the CCAA process.

At this point anyway there seem few signs to encourage unhappy parties to bring their troubles to the bench. To the contrary, Justice McEwen seems to have increased the pressure on parties to work things out for themselves. Those who have asked him to intervene in nuances or variations in the orders initially granted to the companies seem to have come away with less than before they made their case.

• Quebec class action lawyers wanted to prevent the companies from being able to simultaneously appeal the ruling against them and benefit from CCAA protection. In losing this argument, they also lost ground. Now the companies no longer face a deadline on filing their appeal, and can continue to have their cake and eat it past next week (when the deadline for filing would have expired).

• The Ontario government wanted to be able to continue its case against the domestic companies  while it pursued their international partners, to whom the stay had not been completely applied. Even before Justice McEwen rules this Monday, they have already lost ground as a result of his previous decisions. The stay has been more definitively extended to any and all tobacco related claims, as illustrated in the paragraph 19 of the  changes to the Orders approved yesterday)

The next hearing is scheduled for May 14th.