Taylor v. Research In Motion
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that Mr. Taylor was entitled to damages for loss of stock options after his wrongful dismissal.
When he was wrongfully dismissed, his options were cancelled, in accordance with the provisions of the stock option plan.
However, the court awarded damages on the theory that, if actual working notice had been given, additional options would have vested. This is in accordance with prior authority, depending on the specific language of the stock option plan itself.
The interesting part of the case is the court’s analysis of damages. The court did not accept the evidence of either party as to what Mr. Taylor would have done had the options been made available to him. Signficiantly different damages would have been available had different sale dates been accepted.
The court considered the evidence and determined certain facts for damage assessment purposes, based on it’s view of all of the evidence.
This will be an important employment law decision where stock options are claimed in a wrongful dismissal action.