Profile
Michael is a respected and practiced litigator who acts for and advises parties in a wide range of competition matters, a variety of commercial disputes, including contractual disputes, shareholders' disputes, commercial fraud, and employment matters, and also in administrative law and constitutional issues.
Highlights
- Successfully represented the Commissioner of Competition in cases before the Competition Tribunal.
- Acted as trial and appellate counsel before all levels of court, including the Superior Court of Justice and Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada.
- Active member of both the Canadian Bar Association's Competition Law Section and the American Bar Association's Anti-trust Section.
- Vice-Chair of Competition Law Section's Reviewable Matters and Private Actions Committee, and previously served as the Competition Law Section's representative on the Competition Tribunal Advisory Committee on Electronic Filing.
- Frequent contributor to newsletters published by the ABA's Anti-trust Section, The Litigator, and other renowned legal periodicals.
- Martindale-Hubbell CV Peer Review Rated
View most recent publications.
Practice Areas
- Administrative Law
- Anti-trust
- Appellate Counsel
- Civil Anti-Competitive Conduct
- Civil Litigation
- Class Actions
- Commercial Litigation
- Competition Bureau Investigations
- Competition Criminal Matters
- Competition Law (Anti-trust)
- Competition Litigation
- Competition Marketing Practices
- Competition Tribunal Litigation
- Compliance Programs
- Constitutional Law
- Contractual Disputes
- Corporate & Commercial Law
- Corporate Litigation
- Criminal & Civil Anti-Competitive Conduct
- Employment Law
- Enforcement of Foreign Judgments
- Fraud, Misrepresentation, Deceit
- Injunctions
- International Law
- Mergers
- NAFTA Chapter 11 Litigation
- Partnership Disputes
- Partnership Litigation
- Shareholder Disputes
Education and Experience
Education
- B.A. (High Honours) in Philosophy, University of Saskatchewan (1988)
- M.A. in Medieval Studies, University of Toronto (1991)
- LL.B., Dalhousie University (1996)
Legal Career
- Partner, Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP, 2006-Present
- Associate, Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP, 2003-2006
- Associate, Kelly Affleck Greene, 1999-2003
- Associate, Borden & Elliot, 1998-1999
- Called to the Bar, Ontario, 1998
- Articles, Law Clerk to the late Justice John Sopinka, Supreme Court of Canada, 1996-1997
Professional Activities And Associations
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association
- Member of the Ontario Bar Association
- Member of the Toronto Lawyers Association
- Member of The Advocates Society
In The News
- Article: Maître Michael Osborne, «Le droit et nos droits», L'Express, 27 avril, 2010
Selected Cases
Canada (Commissioner of Competition) v. Canadian Waste Services Holdings Inc. : Acted for the Commissioner of Competition in successfully opposing, under the merger provisions of the Competition Act, CWS’ acquisition of a landfill in southwestern Ontario. Reported at: (2001), 11 C.P.R. (4 th) 425 (Comp. Trib.), (2001), 15 C.P.R. (4 th) 5 (Comp. Trib.), affirmed, (2003) 24 C.P.R. (4 th) 178 (F.C.A.).
Canadian Waste Services Holdings Inc. v. Canada (Commissioner of Competition) : Acted for the Commissioner of Competition in successfully opposing an application by CWS for rescission of order of the Competition Tribunal that it divest itself of a landfill in southwester Ontario. This is now one of the leading cases under s. 106 of the Competition Act. Reported at: (2004), 33 C.P.R. (4th) 275. See: Competition Tribunal orders sale of landfill (again); CWS appeals (again)
Canada (Commissioner of Competition) v. Air Canada : Acted for the Commissioner of Competition in a case involving an alleged abuse of dominance by Air Canada arising from Air Canada’s response to entry by WestJet and CanJet into eastern Canada. The Tribunal’s decision defines the “avoidable costs” of Air Canada. The Tribunal accepted Commissioner’s approach to avoidable costs. Its decision will likely be applicable to future predatory pricing cases. Reported at: (2003), 26 C.P.R. (4th) 476 (Comp. Trib.). See THE LITIGATOR: Competition Law Update - The Year in Review 2003
3Com Corp. v. Intelligent Decisions Inc. and 3Com Corp. v. Zorin International Corp. : Obtained judgments after trials of nearly US$10 million against companies and certain individuals who fraudulently obtained significant discounts on computer products by claiming that they were for governmental and educational end users when in fact the equipment was grey-marketed. Jim Orr was lead counsel. Reported at: [2004] O.J. No. 2348 and [2004] O.J. No. 1767. See: 3Com wins nearly US$10 million in two grey marketing fraud cases (PDF)
Henry Schein Arcona v. Mullin : Opposed a motion for an injunction to prevent a departed employee accused of competing against his former employer, in violation of his employment agreement, and obtained solicitor-client costs after the former employer dropped the motion. This is now a leading case on costs after an unsuccessful injunction. Reported at: [2000] O.J. No. 3733.
Community Involvement
- Member, Bruce Trail Conservancy, Land Securement Secretariat
365 Bay Street, Suite 200 · Toronto, Canada
416 360 2800 ·
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