Berger Montague (Canada) PC Represents Investors in a Class Action Lawsuit Against Bausch Health Companies, Inc.

(Toronto – January 15, 2025)

Berger Montague (Canada) PC is representing the plaintiff and a class of investors of Bausch Health Companies, Inc (“Bausch”) in a class action lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on December 23, 2024. The proposed class of investors is all beneficial owner entities and persons who acquired Bausch common shares between April 2, 2020 and May 2, 2024 (“Class Period”). 

The lawsuit alleges that Bausch violated the common law and provisions of the Ontario Securities Act by making misrepresentations regarding its liability and financial exposure to investors who chose to opt-out of previous class action lawsuits against its predecessor company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (“Valeant”). 

Between 2020 and 2021, after years of litigation, substantial discovery of records, and expert valuation of measure of damages, Valeant reached an agreement to settle litigation in Canada and the United States. The quantum of this settlement was over USD $1.2 billion. The settlement was given final court approval and class members had the option to recover damages from the settlement or opt-out of the settlement to pursue damages individually. 

At this time, Bausch was aware of the identification of investors that chose to opt-out of the settlement to seek damages based on their individual losses (“Opt-Out Litigation”). This information was not generally publicly available, but Bausch knew, or was negligent in not recognizing, the strength of the individual Opt-Out Litigation against it and that the total financial exposure of these claims exceeded USD $4 billion. 

Despite this information, Bausch released statements during the Class Period within its core and non-core documents indicating that the Opt-Out Litigation was not a material risk. On April 3, 2023, the Federal District Court for the District of New Jersey released a decision denying Bausch’s motion to dismiss certain opt-out investor claims. This decision revealed Bausch’s financial exposure regarding the Opt-Out Litigation and the price of Bausch shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange dropped from $10.00 to $8.00.

On May 2, 2024, Bausch released its 2024 first quarter Management Discussion and Analysis and Financial Statements and disclosed further information regarding its liability for the Opt-Out Litigation. The price of Bausch shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange dropped from $12.03 to $9.74.