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Since January 2019, we have been contacted by over 2,672 individuals. We have been retained by 839 clients, and we have filed claims for almost 200 clients so far, with more claims anticipated to be filed shortly. We continue to thank each and every one of you for your dedication to this cause.
On August 13, 2019, the parties attended our first Case Management Conference before Prothonotary Furlanetto of the Federal Court. At that time, we pushed DOJ to provide us with their Statements of Defense so that we could focus on narrowing the legal issues in this case.
On September 24, 2019, we met again with DOJ lawyers. At this time, they advised us that they were still awaiting instructions from Canada on how to proceed, and that they would be receiving these instructions by Thursday September 26, 2019.
On September 26, 2019, counsel for DOJ advised that they had received instructions to institute what is called a “third party proceeding” against Hoffman-La Roche Limited, the manufacturer of Mefloquine. We have not pursued Hoffman-La Roche in our lawsuits. Canada intends to bring a motion to stay the Plaintiffs’ proceedings in Federal Court, arguing that, because it intends to add a non-government party, the Federal Court will no longer have jurisdiction over the proceedings. This has the potential of moving the claims which are currently filed in the Federal Court over to the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario.
In light of this development, we immediately contacted the Federal court and have asked for an urgent case conference to discuss this procedural step with Prothonotary Furlanetto. We are actively working towards defeating this move by Canada, which we view as being little more than a delay tactic.
