Stockwoods partner Christopher Wirth and associate Benjamin Kates, successfully represented a shareholder of Continental Precious Minerals Inc. (“Continental”) against whom an application had been brought by Continental on the Commercial List of the Superior Court of Justice to prevent him from voting his shares at Continental’s upcoming Annual General Meeting (“AGM”). Continental, a publicly traded junior mining company, has an unusual shareholder quorum requirement of 50% of the shares of a company. As a result, quorum had not been obtained for the last 16 years resulting in no actual vote for the Board of Directors. Just prior to its AGM, Continental brought an application seeking to prevent Mr. Wirth’s client from voting his shares at the AGM and alleging that he had engaged in conduct contrary to the Securities Act which would warrant such an order. In a strongly worded decision, Justice Pattillo conclusively found for Mr. Wirth’s client and dismissed Continental’s application, resulting in his being able to vote his shares at the AGM, which led to a quorum being achieved and the existing Board of Directors of Continental being replaced by a new board. Justice Pattillo’s decision can be found by clicking here.
