RE:RE:RE:SO..... MT's Deposition is tomorrow.... Lumberfeverlong is correct. The central question in the lawsuit is whether Cohodes defamed Thompson on national television (BNN) by suggesting that he, Thompson, was part of the accounting fraud that occurred at Biovail. If you watch the segment, Cohodes' actual words are pretty damning against him, unless he can prove that Thompson was actually involved in the accounting fraud, as opposed to simply having been a management employee at Biovail when it occurred. Truth of the words is always a defence to a libel claim.
I have no affection for Thompson whatsoever. He was an incompetent CEO, and I am not convinced that he (and his colleague Kupinsky, who is still Chairman but with no economic interest) ever had the best interests of the shareholders in mind. But I am guessing that he was not directly involved in the accounting fraud that occurred at Biovail. He was never accused of being so involved, and never charged. He would be a complete idiot to bring the law suit if he had been. So it will be interesting.
The fact that Cohodes made his remarks in the context of his short campaign against Concordia is, for the most part, irrelevant.