Sears Canada was not long ago one of the most important and largest retailers in Canada. At the time of filing, the company had over 16,000 employees and 15,000 pensioners and operated a network of 140 full-line department stores and hundreds of other locations.
As counsel to the court-appointed monitor, we have overseen all aspects of the case. Our bench strength, not only in insolvency and restructuring, but also in related practice areas such as real estate, employment and labour, intellectual property and litigation across Canada gives us the ability to handle complex matters of this magnitude.
We have also worked with stakeholders to implement a number of unique and innovative steps to preserve and pursue litigation for the benefit of the estate. These steps included the court's appointment of a special litigation investigator as a court officer to examine and, if appropriate, recommend pursuing claims that Sears Canada and/or its creditors may have against any other parties. Currently, we act for the Monitor as litigation counsel in its C$509m transfer at undervalue claim against various parties.
This transaction involved complex issues of pension priorities, reviewable transactions and the wind down of one of Canada's largest retail businesses.
The team is led by Orestes Pasparakis and Evan Cobb and includes Alan Merskey, Alex Schmitt, Julie Himo, Howard Gorman, Eric Daucher and Francisco Vazquez.
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