The Supreme Court of Canada has denied a couple of brokerage firms leave to appeal a case in which they were found liable for investor losses.

The court has denied the opportunity for Midland Walwyn Capital Inc. and Levesque Securities Inc. to appeal their cases, with costs going to the investors, Gale and Robert Blackburn.

According to the Supreme Court, the Blackburns suffered a financial loss in their investment accounts of approximately $190,000 from 1993 to 1995. They sought to recover this sum, together with damages from their former stockbroker, George Georgiou, and his employers, Midland Walwyn and Levesque Securities.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered Midland, Levesque and Georgiou to pay $120,000, jointly and severally, and Midland and Georgiou were ordered to pay a further $22,500, jointly and severally, to the Blackburns for breach of contract and negligence; Georgiou was ordered to pay $41,250 to Midland and $30,000 to the Levesque. In February, the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed appeals from all parties.

In April, applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court were filed. The court says they attempted to raise the issues of whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the finding of the trial judge that investment firms had, and breached, a duty to warn about the trading practices of their account executives; and, to address the question of what is the threshold and nature of knowledge required of an investor client before the courts impose liability on the investor client for any portion of an investment loss.