First conference call February/4/2011.
There was a conference call on Friday with Richard Friedman and the group's representative, . The following was the agenda:
1. Service upon Anthony in the Bahamas;
2. Change the mandate to include certain modifications including but not limited to; the sharing of the costs in the event that they are assessed against Bayfield Holdings Ltd., the Association or Len Davies.
3. A proposed further assessment of $ 2000.00 to assist in covering the amount outstanding to McCarthy Tetrault.
4. Website for the Association
A) The service of the Petition was a technical problem that was quickly dealt with.
B) Changing the mandate to include the sharing of costs was agreed by everyone even though the possibility of Bayfield getting called upon for costs is slight. However, the chance is there and this addition to the mandate outlining our agreement to institute the action against Jitney and Penson, is simply a precaution but one that we all owe both Bayfield and the association's President Len Davis. The amendments outlining this will be circulated to everyone for their signature soon.
C) We discussed the need to call for an extra $2,000 per client in part:
So we would have at least $85,000 in our trust account to indicate to a judge that we possess the financial ability to prosecute the Class Action and to cover the remaining balance for the legal opinion.
Richard reminded us that he based part of is decision due to the fact that he benefited from the opinion of McCarthy Tétrault to work from which saved time and expense.
We may be required by the judge to indicate that our financial strength is deeper than our current kitty and if that is the case, one action may be to provide letters from our banks that the companies have sufficient funds. Details or amounts would not have to be provided.
Keep in mind that the Mandate which we all signed originally spoke of the possibility of having to put up 1% of what we each are claiming as security for the court costs but in a class action that 1% is not necessary. This is vague at this point and if it is necessary, there will be plenty of notice and careful planning.
We now have 17 clients who have paid or are in the process of transferring their money and are supporting the case. If we are certified as a class action, our case will represent more than 100 clients who lost money as a result of the Jitney – Penson actions. We should know if we can be certified as a class action within the next six months.
All the defendants have filed their respective Appearance with the court. An Appearance is a one page document acknowledging they were served with the Petition and are prepared to defend the case and who their lawyer is.
D) The website.
We will add the association information to this Website.