WWW.LEXPERT.CA
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2016
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LEXPERT 15
Di Paolo, David Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(416) 367-6108 ddipaolo@blg.com
Mr. Di Paolo is a partner, the manager of the Toronto Commercial Litigation
Group and regional chair of the Securities Litigation Group at BLG. Mr. Di
Paolo represents registrants and public companies, and their respective
officers, directors and shareholders in all manner of proceedings
and prosecutions.
Desrosiers, Martin Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(514) 904-5649 mdesrosiers@osler.com
Mr. Desrosiers focuses on insolvency and financial restructuring law.
He represents financial institutions, trustees, receivers, monitors, debtors
and creditors' committees. He has lectured and written extensively,
and is an IIC member.
Demers, Jo-Anne Clyde & Co Canada LLP
(514) 764-3601 jo-anne.demers@clydeco.ca
A trial litigator with considerable expertise defending professional liability
claims against lawyers, accountants, securities brokers and construction
professionals, product liability claims and class actions defense.
Has pleaded before all levels of court and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Specializes in crisis management in high-profile cases, risk management
and insurance consulting.
Deane, Robert J.C. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(604) 640-4250 rdeane@blg.com
Mr. Deane is the leader of BLG's International Trade and Arbitration Group
and co-leader of the firm's Privacy and Data Security Group. His practice
specializes in international and domestic commercial arbitration, commercial
litigation, privacy law, intellectual property litigation and advertising/compe-
tition law. He is counsel in arbitration proceedings throughout North America,
Asia and Europe.
De Vita, Bruno Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP
(604) 484-1709 bdevita@ahbl.ca
Mr. De Vita, Managing Partner of the firm, practises civil litigation with an
emphasis on insurance coverage disputes and complex tort liability cases. He
is known for his representation of major insurance companies, local govern-
ments, religious institutions and athletic associations. Mr. De Vita also acts
as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Switzerland.
D'Silva, Alan L.W. Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5204 adsilva@stikeman.com
Mr. D'Silva is a leading litigation lawyer in Canada with expertise in a number
of areas of law, including defence of class actions, corporate/commercial
disputes, securities litigation, insurance litigation, professional negligence,
sports law and directors' and officers' claims. He has acted as counsel in
more than 200 publicly reported cases and has extensive experience at all
levels of court.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
banks and payment or credit
cards. "ere's also an extraor-
dinary amount of litigation," he
adds, affecting consumers across
the country.
As it stands, much of the con-
sumer litigation — especially the
class actions — against the banks
is filed under provincial statutes.
Jamal, for example, is currently
involved in a class action in BC
over whether bank-issued, pre-
loaded payment cards are subject
to provincial consumer-protec-
tion legislation as well as the
Bank Act. ere are consequenc-
es, he says, for the obligations in
disclosure and "the remedies and
the fees that can be charged." e
case was denied certification, but
is on appeal. In Quebec, mean-
while, a class action was started
alleging several big banks, and
some other large companies, breached the Qué-
bec Consumer Protection Act's negative-billing
provision by marketing credit cards that would
waive the annual fee for the first year.
So here's where it gets really interesting: Ot-
tawa is getting ready to rumble. e last two
budgets have talked about beefing up federal
powers to fill in the gaps in federal regulations
with regard to retail customers. e 2016 bud-
get document, the Liberal's first, reiterated that
amendments to the Bank Act will be proposed
"to modernize the financial consumer protection
framework by clarifying and enhancing consum-
er protection through a new chapter in the Act."
e budget stated the amendments will "reaffirm
the government's intent to have a system of exclu-
sive rules" to ensure an efficient national banking
system from coast to coast to coast.
If Ottawa enacts the amendments it's describ-
ing (and it's working on this in conjunction with
the provinces), Jamal says the end result — con-
sumer protection in banking — will be exclu-
sively federal terrain. "What they're saying is,