http://www.cuminggillespie.com

Jamie Cuming has had an article titled Applying Alberta’s Minor Injury Regulation published in the June 2010 issue of The Lawyers Weekly.  Please click here to read the article (external link).  The Lawyers Weekly is a national  newspaper for Canadian legal professionals.

On behalf of our clients, we are pleased that the RCMP is moving forward with charges against some of the principals of the HMS Investment Scheme.  We will continue to push forward in civil court with the certified class action lawsuit in an effort to assist victims with recouping their losses.

Cuming & Gillespie and McLennan Ross LLP
HMS Class Action Co Counsel

The Notification of the Certification of the Vioxx National Class Action was distributed in March 2010. All current clients should have received this letter. If you did not receive a copy of the Notice, a copy is contained herein (90kb Word Doc).

Additionally, all Alberta Cardiologists were notified by mail and instructed to advise their patients and potential claimants of the Notice.

James Cuming and Craig Gillespie recently attended and delivered presentations at the Alberta Trial Lawyers’ Conference “The Cap – The Law and Medicine”.  James delivered a speech on managing the Certified Medical Exam in a personal injury claim.  Craig’s presentation focused on assessing multiple injuries in a personal injury claim under the new legislation.  Cuming & Gillespie continues to stay on top of the ever changing world of personal injury law and our commitment to research, publication and speaking is second to none.  Continue to visit our website for up to date publications on all things relating to personal injury claims and medical malpractice claims.

James D. Cuming and Craig G. Gillespie of Cuming & Gillespie are very pleased to announce that in February, a claim for a husband and father of 2 who died as a result of a semi-truck collsion resolved for a seven figure settlement for the victim’s wife and children. Please refer to the Testimonials section of our website for more details.

On January 25, James Cuming gave an address to the delegates and speakers of The Canadian Institute’s 8th Annual Forum on Personal Injury Settlements.  He spoke on Constitutional Challenges - Current and Future Trends, focusing specifically on Morrow v. Zhang (Alberta Court of Appeal).  He also gave predictions on where Alberta is headed with respect to the cap on damages for minor injuries and whether or not Alberta will follow Ontario’s lead.

On September 30, 2009, the San Diego Court appointed a receiver with respect to distribution of the seized funds in the First National Bank of San Diego. The receiver is currently reviewing all claims. We hope that he will have a decision with respect to distribution in the next 3 months.

For class members who signed up with us prior to the Opt-In / Opt-Out process, we are now wrapping up our Assurance Fund Application process. We have advised clients with outstanding applications that the deadline for returning them is January 30, 2009, and shortly thereafter we will be seeking a meeting with the Law Society of Alberta to discuss where the applications are at.

Following an Order from Justice Rooke seeking the assistance of the Court in San Diego in paying out traceable claims that had already been submitted and then paying the remainder of the funds into the action in Alberta for the benefit of the Class, and our subsequently successful application in San Diego, there was an appeal of Justice Rooke’s order filed by Clint Docken on behalf of four defendants, Skyward Management Inc., Victor Bauman, 1037149 Alberta Ltd. operating as Cedar Management and Stan Remin. We are currently finalizing our appeal Factum in this matter, and the appeal will be heard in April of 2010.

We have also been working on preparing materials to oppose Summary Dismissal Applications by the Financial Institution Defendants. We have cross-examined the witnesses that they had swear affidavits in support of their motions, and will be filing briefs with respect to same early in the New Year. The Application will be heard in February 2010. If we are successful, then we will proceed to Examinations for Discovery of the Defendant banks.

We appear to have settled a claim in Indiana which should realize $50,000.00 for the Class.

We continue to entertain settlement discussions with counsel for the defendant lawyer Dana Carlson. We will be conducting Examinations for Discovery of Mr. Carlson in December.

We will continue to update you with any news if there is anything to update you with. But please remember that we ask that you NOT CALL OR E-MAIL FOR UPDATES. It is very time consuming and expensive for us to deal with class members seeking individual updates, so please understand that if you do not receive an update for several months, this means that there is nothing newsworthy to share with you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours truly,
Lynn Sedgwick (for Graham McLennan)
Paralegal - Litigation
McLennan Ross LLP
Toll Free: 1-800-567-9200
Direct Line: (780) 482-9281
Fax: (780) 482-9100

The following is a status update from the regarding the Vioxx class proceedings in Ontario. The Alberta Vioxx class proceeding will be moving forward through the Ontario National Class Action.

On October 22, 2009, the Supreme Court dismissed three leave applications relating to the Ontario class action (Mignacca v. Merck). The result of the Supreme Court’s decisions is that the Ontario action is currently the only certified Vioxx class action in Canada outside of Quebec. That being said, the defendants (”Merck”) continue to challenge certification in Ontario .

In May 2008, the Saskatchewan court certified a Saskatchewan action as a national opt-out class action. However, on March 30, 2009, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal set aside the certification order and refused to grant leave to amend the pleadings. Mr. Merchant – counsel for the proposed Saskatchewan  sought leave to the Supreme Court and was refused by its October 22, 2009 decision. This effectively ends the stand-alone Saskatchewan class action.

Status of the Ontario Class Action

On July 28, 2008, Justice Cullity certified this Ontario action as a national class action relating to Vioxx excluding Quebec. However, Merck continues to challenge certification.

The litigation battle continues in Ontario, and we will keep our clients apprised as the matter continues.

CUMING & GILLESPIE

We are pleased to announce that Jamie Cuming has been recommended again as leading lawyer in The Canadian Legal LEXPERT® Directory 2009 (13th Edition), published by Thomson Carswell. The LEXPERT® Directory is a leading, peer-review-based directory of legal practitioners in Canada. Recommendations for lawyers in the annual LEXPERT® Directory are based on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey, with firm rankings tabulated from the cumulative rankings of individuals within each practice area reviewed.

McLENNAN ROSS LLP / CUMING & GILLESPIE LAWYERS

We are pleased to report that on June 23, 2009, Judge Miller of the United States District Court of Southern California granted our Motion to Intervene in the Interpleader Application in San Diego.  Jude Miller ordered that only directly traceable claims are to be recognized, that the aggregators with directly traceable claims will not be recognized and must await the outcome of the Canadian action and that the funds remaining after the directly traceable claims and administrative expenses are paid will be paid into court in our action.

This successful application is the result of several years work, and we are pleased with the outcome.

On another note, on or about June 12, 2009, the Notice of Class Action was sent to the last known address for any investors we had record of, other than those investors who have already signed a Contingency Fee Agreement with us.  These investors will have 60 days to Opt Into (for Non-Alberta residents), or Opt-Out of (for Alberta Residents) the Class Action.

We are also in the process of exchanging document productions with Defendants, and scheduling Examinations for Discoveries of those parties on their documents throughout the coming summer and fall.

We will continue to update you with any news if there is anything to update you with.  But please remember that we ask that you not call or e-mail for updates.  It is very time consuming and expensive for us to deal with clients seeking individual updates, so please understand that if you do not receive an update for several months, this means that there is nothing newsworthy to share with you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours truly,

Lynn Dechaine (for Graham McLennan)

Paralegal - Litigation
McLennan Ross LLP
Toll Free: 1-800-567-9200
Direct Line: (780) 482-9281
Fax: (780) 482-9100