Stephen Fitterman is repeatedly consulted by business and individual clients for his thoughtful, strategic analyses grounded by a broad skill set in all forms of dispute resolution.
Mr. Fitterman’s wide-ranging practice has encompassed the prosecution and defence of complex and often unique civil matters, including all manner of corporate, corporate governance and commercial disputes, employment law disputes, real estate and construction law disputes, environmental and mining law litigation, securities and regulatory disputes, class actions, estate and trust-related disputes, professional liability claims, fraud and conspiracy claims, and defamation claims. Mr. Fitterman has appeared before the British Columbia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, all levels and divisions of the Supreme Court of Ontario, the Federal Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada. He also has significant experience as counsel on complex, multi-party arbitrations and mediations.
Mr. Fitterman frequently provides guidance on matters of corporate governance, conflict avoidance and/or strategic positioning in advance of anticipated disputes. Clients appreciate his approach to problem-solving and his ability to add value to day-to-day management decisions quite apart from guiding them through complex litigation.
In its role as counsel in many of the high profile, high stakes cases that have made inroads in Canadian jurisprudence, tough, intense litigation and arbitration has always been the firm’s forte. For example, the last few years have seen Mr. Fitterman and SCFL lawyers:
- successfully defend a $42 million claim by an international conglomerate of specialty cellulose products alleging breach of fiduciary duty and confidence, misappropriation of corporate opportunity and conspiracy;
- institute and resolve an action for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation between related public and private companies involved in developing sensor equipment for the semi-conductor business and having a value in the hundreds of millions of dollars;
- secure a multi-million arbitral award for breach of a good faith duty of contractual performance of a long-term, relational service contract in the waste management industry;
- represent related Canadian, US and Taiwanese companies in a national class action alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in the international optical disk drive industry.
- represent Wastech Services Ltd. in response to a highly science-laden appeal by Metro Vancouver to the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board relating to the closure of the principal sanitary landfill for the Metro Region and act as co-counsel in a related confiden¬tial arbitration seeking damages of approximately $20 million.
Updated April 2022
