# Penn West class action



## pwm (Jan 19, 2012)

I received a letter today from TDDI regarding a class action lawsuit against Penn West. I qualify, as I bought shares during the specified period, on July 31,2014. I'm confused with the process. It says you need to upload a signed claim form, but the only form I see is a paper claim form which you use if you don't have internet. They also say that forms MUST be submitted online. Am I supposed to print this claim form, complete it, sign it, scan to a file on my PC, then submit that file online? What a mess!

Has anyone else gone through this?


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## stantistic (Sep 19, 2015)

*Comments*

a) I received my notice in May of this year.
b) I had purchased shares in August and sold them in September, 2013. (At a loss, btw.) :upset:
c) In the application form, there is a question to answer.
“Did the claimant purchase or acquire the Shares in the period March 17, 2011 to and including July 29, 2014 AND hold some or all of the Shares at the close of trading on July 29, 2014?”
I concluded that I was not eligible. It is not evident from some newspaper articles, how exclusive the time limits are.


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## AMABILE (Apr 3, 2009)

YOU'RE NOT KIDDING IT'S A MESS
yes, print the claims form- complete it - scan it
submit claim with documentation by " browse files "


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## pwm (Jan 19, 2012)

AMABILE, in the "Claimant ID" section where you identify yourself, which of the various options did you check off for the type of account you held the shares in? The options are: RRSP RRIF RESP TRUST etc. I bought the shares at TDDI so I picked "*Trust*". I believe an the online broker holds the shares "in trust". Is that correct?


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## AMABILE (Apr 3, 2009)

you're probably correct -
i'm with bmo investorline
and i marked other - regular


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## pwm (Jan 19, 2012)

I figured out how to use Acrobat reader to "Fill & Sign" the pdf claim form. I took photos of our signatures and inserted them in the pdf file with all the other fields filled in. I sent them that, plus a number of statements from TDDI showing the state of my account before, and after the purchase as well as the confirmation. It actually was a good learning experience with Adobe Acrobat. 

Still I don't know if that will even work. They say they will mail a confirmation within 60 days and the deadline is Nov 14, so not much time left if I don't get a confirmation in 60 days.


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## financialuproar (Jan 26, 2010)

Sorry in advance for hijacking the thread, but...

Do you guys actually think this lawsuit has any chance of paying you a dime? Has there been any examples of successful lawsuits in the case of what (at least in my understanding) turned out to be a relatively minor accounting irregularity?


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## AMABILE (Apr 3, 2009)

yes. i expect i'll get some money, since the lawsuit has been settled

see here : https://www.strosbergco.com/class-actions/pennwest/updates.htm


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## stantistic (Sep 19, 2015)

For context re post #7.
In December 2015, I received $20 as a successful plaintiff in the Canadian DRAM class action. Subtract registered mail and photocopying costs and I ended up (net) pretty close to fuddle duddle.
But it was a moral victory.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

There appear to be two different class actions, you might want to check which one you're eligible to join.
http://www.blbglaw.com/cases/00274
https://www.strosbergco.com/class-actions/pennwest/

According to the second link, the final settlement was $36 million paid out (more paid in total, but I think that's after legal fees). This was to settle the allegation of materially misstating financial statements and misleading investors. Shares outstanding in 2014 was approximately 490 million shares. Assuming every shareholder is equally eligible under both class actions, that works out to $0.07 in settlement per share.

So if you held 1000 shares, maybe you'll see a cheque for $70 ?

Lawsuits are important for the principal of it -- it's important to prosecute financial crimes, and embarrass and shame people who commit them.

In this case, I think the settlement was reached instead of Penn West management admitting to any wrongdoing. That's the kind of thing that happened in 2003 with Kevin O'Leary, when (as a named defendant) he & company settled for $122 million after he was accused of misrepresenting TLC's financial state.

So read into it what you will ... business people work hard to protect their image. Did O'Leary commit fraud? Did Penn West management commit fraud? Well, er, strictly speaking no fraud was admitted to ... here's a few million $ to keep my name clean.


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## pwm (Jan 19, 2012)

Thanks for doing the math j4b. I think your calculations are slightly off however. Wouldn't the money be divided only among the people who bought shares during the specified periods? If that is the case the results would be much larger per individual. Not sure if I'll get much, but it's the principal I suppose.

If I get anything I'll bump this thread so you can see the results.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

You're right! Only people who bought during a certain window are eligible. Assuming that's just a fraction of these shares, the payout should be much higher than I calculated.

Yes please keep us up to date.


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## pwm (Jan 19, 2012)

Got my cheque today. For 300 qualified shares I got $4.50, my pro rata share of the compensation fund. WooHoo!


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## AMABILE (Apr 3, 2009)

my cheque to-day - a whopping $12.15


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