More than a dozen years on, Jason Cowan, an Edmonton businessman, is still fighting to regain what he claims is rightfully his and which he says was wrongfully taken from him. It has been a lonely fight because of the general reluctance of regulators and various arms of governments to get more involved, or in some cases, involved at all. On top of that there's a group who stonewalled developments.
The matter is now set to move to centre stage. "The thing is now before a case-management judge," said John Gladwin, a former RCMP officer helping Cowan. "Everyone is working on a schedule and there will be no more delays and no answers for two years [like in the past]."
The reluctance by the authorities to pursue the matter didn't stop Cowan. "How many times will you find an individual like Jason who is prepared to hang in and keep pushing to get into the stage they are at now?" asked Gladwin, who argues the "merits of the [Cowan] case were there right from day one. There was no desire to pursue it. But one thing about Jason is that he is not shy about picking up the phone."
Cowan's woes started in 1998, when along with three other plaintiffs he filed a statement of claim against a number of brokerage firms, individuals at those firms and parties he claims played a role in wrongly transferring the ownership of Global Well Control, a company owned by Cowan and his partner, Barbara Trosin. "The shares were sold without our authorization," Cowan said. The suit claims the four plaintiffs suffered damages of almost $2.4-million. In all, counting interest, the suit was for about $20-million.
Comparing the 1998 statement of claim with an amended version filed in late 2006 shows that none of the original defendants has been dropped from the suit. Since then it's understood that at least one of the defendants has reached a settlement with Cowan. But it took lots of effort. "Why did they not do it years ago? Their approach was to drag it through the courts. They did that because they knew Jason and Barbara didn't have the money. And they basically hid behind the legal system," Gladwin said.
But apart from reaching some settlements, Cowan's research meant he has obtained a vast amount of information from a variety of sources. For example, one June, 2003, letter from a brokerage firm said, "This will serve as our confirmation that we have checked our files and we could not locate a letter from you authorizing the deposit of the above noted share certificates registered in your name into the account [of one of the defendants]."
Cowan, who for a period of time acted for himself, is dismayed at the slow pace of proceedings. "Literally, you are fighting [amongst others] the Government of Alberta, specifically the Alberta Securities Commission and the former Alberta Stock Exchange, and they have considerable resources," Cowan said. "It's been tough, but I haven't given up."
Through his woes, Cowan has been backed by a prominent Canadian businessman who concluded that Cowan and Trosin were wronged. He has also found a good law firm, Edmontonbased Kirwin LLP, that will help navigate the matter through the courts.