Nortel Survives (First?) Appeal -- Canadian Edition

Unlike the bankruptcy judges in Nortel, who synchronized their trials in a landmark case of cross-border insolvency cooperation, the appellate judges run at their own speed, so results will trickle in here and there.

The Canadians got through their appeal first, and the 3-0 ruling from the panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal was rightly withering of the losing appellants.  In response to the argument accusing the trial judge of applying -- instead of the correct law of property entitlements -- his own "commercial judicial moralism," the panel had this to say on his analysis:

"Based on those facts, he concluded that a pro rata order constituted the answer to the allocation issue. The fact that the answer is also fair should not detract from the force of his conclusion."

Who said Canadians can't be snarky, or at the very least passive-aggressive?

The next stage in Canada would be the Supreme Court, which requires leave to appeal, although its grant rate is higher than the U.S. Supreme Court's cert rate.  Stay tuned!