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Wayland Group Corp.
Wayland Group Corp. (CSE: WAYL, FSE: 75M, OTC: MRRCF)
Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Court File No.: CV-19-00000114-0000
Quebec Superior Court of Justice, Court File No.: 500-06-001020-193

f/k/a, Maricann Group

Wayland Group Corp. (“Wayland”) was a Canadian cannabis producer which at all times relevant to this action was in the process of expanding its main production facility in Langton, Ontario (the “Langton Facility”). This shareholder class action relates to Wayland  conducting multiple offerings thereby raising tens of millions of dollars from investors, and making alleged misrepresentations concerning:

  1. How the proceeds from those public offerings would be used;
  2. Regarding when each phase of the expansion of the Langton Facility would be completed and how much each phase would cost;
  3. That the expansion of the Langton Facility was fully-funded from prior public offerings; and
  4. About the increase in the pro forma output and revenues that would be achieved from the additional cannabis that would be produced beginning in 2019 as a result of the expansion of the Langton Facility.

The investors allege that in a serious of storm-warning type public corrections, Wayland release information about its business, operations, and finances that conflicted with its prior statements. MNP LLP, the auditor, agreed and refused to “sign-off” on Wayland’s F/2018 financial statements.

On May 4, 2019, Wayland’s securities in Canada were subject to a halt-trading order issued by the Securities Commission. The securities never traded again and investors holding the shares suffered a complete loss.

On December 2, 2019 (the “Filing Date”), Wayland Group Corp., (“Wayland”), Maricann Inc. (“Maricann”) and Nanoleaf Technologies Inc. (“Nanoleaf”, and collectively with Wayland and Maricann the “Companies” or the “Applicants”) applied for and received an order (the “Initial Order”) for protection pursuant to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”).

A Stay of Litigation was Ordered and it expired on February 20, 2022. Thereafter, Class Counsel have made substantial progress for investors as referenced below and within the court documents available on this website and by contacting us.


UPDATES

The Ontario Class Proceeding

On June 26, 2024, the parties are to participate in a case management conference with the Honourable Justice E.D. Morgan to resolve many outstanding issues and to schedule important court hearing dates relating to Class Certification and receiving discovery from MNP LLP, Wayland’s estate (hard-drives), and former employees and consultants.

On January 11, 2024, pursuant to the Court’s Direction/Order of April 13, 2023, the parties engaged in a mediation in hopes to resolve the claims between the investors and Wayland Group Corp., the former directors and officers, excluding Benjamin A. Ward, and the Company’s former investment banks. On February 26, 2024, the mediation period ceased without reaching a resolution.

On April 13, 2023, the parties engaged in an extensive case management conference with the Honourable Justice E.D. Morgan to resolve disputes about the Insurance Companies attempting to intervene and overturn the default, enforcing an order requiring MNP LLP to produce records about Wayland and Benjamin A. Ward, and determining whether the former directors and officers of Wayland should be forbidden to rely upon Wayland’s former Special Counsel to defend them in the Class Actions.

On September 12, 2022, the Plaintiffs were to make submissions to the Court seeking authority from the Court to advance the statutory cause of action known as section 138.3 of the Ontario Securities Act.  The Plaintiffs’ factum (formal submissions) and associated evidence can be reviewed by former shareholders of Maricann/Wayland by downloading the  Submissions to Court and Compendium of Evidence documents (see Documents section).  Despite being fully prepared to make submissions, Wayland’s insurance company intervened to adjourn the submissions to a future date.  Reluctantly, the Court accepted the insurance company’s proposal as reflected by the Endorsement (see Documents).

On June 13, 2022, Defendants Wayland and Benjamin Ward were noted in default.


The Quebec Class Proceeding

On May 4, 2022, the Quebec Court authorized the cause of action for Article 575(2) to be certified as a class action defined as all Québécois who acquired Wayland’s securities on or after January 24, 2018 through April 23, 2019, and held some or all of those securities until after the release of at least one of the Public Corrective Disclosures.