Cases

SCC Case Information

Summary

34545

Canadian National Railway v. McKercher LLP, et al.

(Saskatchewan) (Civil) (By Leave)

Keywords

Fiduciary duty - Attorneys, Conflict of interest.

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch) for information purposes only.

Fiduciary Duty Attorneys Conflict of Interest What was the scope of McKercher’s duty to CN to avoid conflicts of interest? Whether McKercher was in a conflict of interest by suing its current client Whether McKercher breached the remaining elements of the duty of loyalty Whether disqualification of McKercher is the appropriate remedy.

In 2008, the law firm McKercher LLP began representing Gordon Wallace as the representative plaintiff in a class action law suit against Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway and others, in which prairie farmers allege that the railways overcharged western farmers for grain transportation over a 25 year period. When the claim was launched, McKercher LLP also was acting for Canadian National Railway on a number of other matters. Canadian National Railway applied to disqualify McKercher LLP from acting on the class action law suit.