A British Columbia Supreme Court judge is expected to announce a decision today in the battle over control of the board of Rogers Communications Inc.
Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick must rule on whether a newly constituted board under the leadership of Edward Rogers is legitimate after he removed and replaced five directors, while three of his family members maintain the decision should have involved a vote by shareholders.
Ken McEwan, a lawyer for Edward Rogers, argued in court this week his client used his authority as chair of the trust that has 97.5 per cent of the voting rights.
He told a hearing on Monday that Edward Rogers also had that power under a unique corporate law in B.C., where the Toronto-based company is incorporated.
But a lawyer representing Rogers’ mother and two sisters argued the independent decision went against the company’s governance practices and the wishes of deceased patriarch Ted Rogers.
The spat between two factions of the Rogers family empire has spilled from the boardroom to social media and into a courtroom amid the company’s plans to buy rival Shaw Communications Inc. for $26 billion pending regulatory approval.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2021.
The Canadian Press
