A $200-million class action suit was filed today in the case of Manitoba’s failed Crocus Investment Fund demanding damages from the fund and its insiders, as well as brokers, regulators and auditors.

The suit, filed by representative plaintiff Bernard Bellan in the court of the Queen’s bench in Winnipeg, seeks certification as a class action for all shareholders of the Crocus Investment Fund between Oct. 1, 2000 and Dec.10, 2004 who suffered a loss in the fund.

The suit names the fund itself, various insiders, the Manitoba Securities Commission, brokerage firms BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and Wellington West Capital Inc., and the fund’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, as defendants. It seeks $150 million in general damages (for oppression, negligence, (gross negligence and recklessness against the MSC), $50 million in punitive and exemplary damages, and costs (it expects the costs of administering any award to exceed $1 million).

None of the claims have been proven, and the various defendants have 20 days to respond to the suit.

At the crux of the suit is the claim that the value of the fund’s holdings was inflated, that it overstated its share price valuations, and that it issued prospectuses which were materially false because they contained these inflated valuations. It argues that the insiders are liable for damages as a result. It demands damages from Wellington West and Nesbitt Burns, and argues that PricewaterhouseCoopers breached its duty of care to the plaintiff and the other class members and negligently represented in its auditors’ reports that were incorporated into the prospectuses.

It also claims that the Manitoba Securities Commission owed a duty of care to ensure the prospectuses contained full, true and plain disclosure of all material facts relating to the value of the fund and its class A shares, and to undertake “a reasonable and prudent investigation of complaints concerning the valuation of the Crocus Fund. It alleges the MSC breached its duty of care and thereby acted in a grossly careless and reckless manner, amounting to bad faith.”

Jennifer Gillard, senior manager, communications, at PwC in Toronto, declined to comment today on the suit, noting that the company has not yet seen the statement of claim. BMO’s senior manager media and public relations, Ralph Marranca, saays that BMO does not comment on legal matters. Jim Beamish, media relations for Wellington West in Winnipeg, says that the company has no comment on the case, as it’s before the courts.