Supreme Court Tightens Conspiracy Liability Rules: Implications For Antitrust Criminal Cases

On March 1, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada released an important ruling on the scope of criminal conspiracy in Canada and significantly restricted the "party liability" rules for conspiracy offences. This decision could have significant implications for criminal antitrust prosecutions in Canada involving potential liability by third parties including individuals, affiliated companies and trade or industry associations.

The Court's analysis of the party liability rules in R. v. J.F. 2013 SCC 12 (released on March 1, 2013) arose out of a gruesome case of conspiracy to murder involving a young offender. The defendant had learned that a female friend and her sister were planning to murder the girls' mother by having her drink excess alcohol and then drowning her (the sisters were convicted of first degree murder). In the course of their investigation, authorities found that the defendant had MSN communications with one of the sisters in which he provided information about death by drowning and made certain suggestions about the manner in which the plan should be carried out. He also offered means to mislead a future police investigation. At trial, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and the issue on appeal was...