Canaccord suit ends well for them but Plaintiff dies I have been trying to think of how Canny could have infected this poor fellow with pancreatic cancer but it just doesn't seem likely.
MBA broke his heart just as it has most of you here!
Canaccord no longer in suit from dead client's estate
2015-03-25 09:17 MT - Street Wire
Also Street Wire (C-MBA) CIBT Education Group Inc
by Mike Caswell
The estate of late Abbotsford property developer David Wiebe has dropped a lawsuit it filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Canaccord Genuity Corp. over unsuitable recommendations. The estate had complained about shares that Canaccord and one of its former employees, John A. Weisgerber, purchased for Mr. Wiebe when he was still alive. Among them was a $7-million purchase of shares in CIBT Education Group Inc. that lost substantially all of their value, the suit stated.
The conclusion of the lawsuit is contained in a brief consent order filed on March 19, 2015. The order simply states that the suit is dismissed. Both sides are to pay their own legal fees.
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| DIGNITY MEMORIAL |
| David Wiebe |
The allegations against Canaccord, as described in a Feb. 8, 2013, notice of claim, stemmed from investments that Canaccord made for Mr. Wiebe after he became a client of the firm in 2005. According to the suit, Mr. Weisgerber persuaded him to move his accounts from RBC Dominion Securities and then aggressively counselled him to invest almost all of the money in CIBT Education, a supposedly safe TSX Venture Exchange company that ran technical and language colleges.
Unfortunately for Mr. Wiebe, the investment worked out very poorly. According to the suit, Mr. Weisgerber used his account to buy the stock over a lengthy period and carried out at least 36 purchases in March, 2008, without authorization. During that time the company went to a $2.53 high, but by June, 2008, it had declined to one-10th of that value, the suit stated.
As the estate saw it, Mr. Weisgerber's purpose in recommending the stock was not to improve Mr. Wiebe's portfolio. It was to "augment his personal remuneration" in Canaccord's grid system. In doing so, he bought the CIBT shares "without regard to the suitability of these investments," the lawsuit stated. Mr. Weisgerber also allegedly failed to disclose that CIBT was a Canaccord client, and that he managed its account.
The suit sought compensation for breach of duty as well as general, special and punitive damages. Vancouver lawyer Robert Hungerford of Hungerford Tomyn Lawrenson & Nichols filed the suit on behalf of Mr. Wiebe's estate. Mr. Wiebe died in August, 2012, of pancreatic cancer at age 70. Besides his estate, the plaintiffs in the case included several companies that he owned directly or with his son: Marshall Pacific Development Corp., Hi-Grove Holdings (1995) Ltd. and W&I Contracting Ltd.
For their part, Canaccord and Mr. Weisgerber denied any wrongdoing, claiming that Mr. Wiebe was an experienced investor who understood the risks. In a response filed March 28, 2013, they said that it was Mr. Wiebe who actively pursued the investment in CIBT. He sought out Mr. Weisgerber and representatives of CIBT to discuss the purchase. He went ahead with his purchase despite being cautioned that the company was a high-risk investment, the response stated.
Canaccord and Mr. Weisgerber asked that the suit be dismissed. Vancouver lawyer David Thomson of Miller Thomson LLP filed the response on their behalf. Canaccord Genuity is the operating subsidiary of Canaccord Financial Inc., now Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.
Although CIBT received much mention in the lawsuit, it was not a defendant. The stock was last at 26 cents.