PDF version: The Expanding use of the Oppression Remedy may give legal teeth to Corporate Social Responsibility
Case considered: Wrzesien v Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners Ltd, 2013 ABQB 59.
The oppression remedy is a statutory right available under section 242 of the Alberta Business Corporation Act, RSA 2000, c B-9 [ABCA] and other corporate statutes in Canada. The remedy is a powerful tool for correcting prejudicial, unfair and oppressive conduct. It is available to shareholders, directors and officers who have been oppressed or unreasonably prejudiced through corporate conduct. Under the legislation a creditor may utilize the oppression remedy only if the court exercises its discretion to find that the creditor is a ‘proper person’ to make an application under the oppression remedy (ABCA, s 239).