David Tupper practises in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. His practice involves all aspects of corporate/commercial litigation with an emphasis on securities law, construction law, insurance law, oil and gas law, and commercial disputes. He has appeared before all levels of courts in Alberta, in applications, trials and appeals, and has appeared in the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal.

In the securities area, David has acted for both the acquiror and the target in hostile take-overs and has frequently appeared before the Securities Commission of Alberta to attack or defend shareholder rights plans. He has acted in dozens of arrangements, including the Suncor/Petro-Canada arrangement, and has successfully defeated challenges to those arrangements by adverse parties. David has also acted for management and dissident groups in proxy contests and related court challenges. He has had significant experience in oppression cases, including disputes over the entitlements of shareholders and holders of debt instruments.

David has acted as counsel for plaintiffs and defendants in construction disputes, including engineering, builder and architectural issues of significant size.

In the insurance area, David has acted as counsel in subrogation actions, coverage actions, and liability defence matters, involving property, liability, and life insurance policies. He has also prepared coverage opinions dealing with numerous issues involving property and liability policies and reinsurance losses of very significant magnitude.

In the oil and gas area, David has given advice, led litigation, and conducted trials in a range of matters involving contractual disputes, unitization, pooling, farmouts and other issues.

David also acts in the environmental area, and has provided advice on large and small matters, including one of the largest pieces of environmental litigation ever brought before Alberta courts, and in disputes relating to gas station contamination and oil spills on waterways.

David is ranked in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and is recognized as having a "'tremendous ability to listen to clients, understand the issues, and convert that to a successful strategy'." He was also one of the lawyers named in the "Top 40 Under 40" by Calgary Inc. magazine in September 2005. In his free time, he is active in many volunteer organizations.

Among the matters in which David has been involved are the following:

• Litigation counsel to Suncor in its arrangement with Petro-Canada.
• Acted for the dissident group in a proxy contest for control of the board of a significant energy company. The dissident group won the proxy contest.
• Acted for management in a proxy contest over board election of dissident directors of a prominent Calgary company. None of the directors of the dissident group were elected.
• Successfully appeared for Hunt Oil Company in its application before the Energy Resources Conservation Board for an order-approved enhanced recovery of a number of productive wells. The application was challenged by a significant energy company and a hearing held in which Hunt was wholly successful.
• Successfully obtained an injunction for a large retail company preventing a former employee from using confidential information and competing with the company.
• Successfully acted for EPCOR Utilities Inc. and Capital Power Corporation in defence of an injunction brought by a former chair of the Alberta Securities Commission, seeking to enjoin a C$3-billion transaction on the basis of deficient approval by the shareholder of EPCOR and the City of Edmonton.
• Successfully acted for EPCOR Utilities Inc. and Capital Power Corporation to successfully defend an application brought by a number of unions seeking to overturn the C$2.8-billion transaction involving the creation of Capital Power Corporation and its initial public offering.
• Acted for the creditor of an insolvent oil field service company to advance bankruptcy claims, resulting in a settlement at nearly full value
• Acted for creditor seeking to lift the statutory stay of proceedings in CCAA proceedings to allow independent litigation to be advanced; succeeded in obtaining such an order and ultimately resolving the matter
• Successfully acted for a mid-size oil and gas company in distress resulting in an order granting CCAA protection and the staged wind-up of that company
• An international commercial arbitration with a value of over C$500-million, involving construction issues and insurance issues in the oil sands
• A commercial arbitration relating to pipeline construction standards and deficiencies
• Numerous environmental disputes and arbitrations involving service station clean-up and allegations of contamination
• A novel and precedent-setting securities litigation, leading to trial in which David successfully acted for Agrium in a suit against its commercial partners in a business
• A dispute over ownership of a gas well involving unitization and contractual issues, leading to trial, in which David successfully acted for Dominion Exploration Canada
• Defence of an action for Nexen, leading to trial, in which Nexen successfully defended against allegations of breach of employment contract
• Successful defence of an action for Agrium leading to trial, involving, among other things, allegations that Agrium breached a change of control agreement relating to the grant of options and the valuation of those options
• Defence for Canada Southern Petroleum Ltd. of a Securities Commission application brought by Petro Canada to cease trade the shareholder rights plan of Canada Southern, in the context of a hostile take-over bid made by Petro Canada for Canada Southern. Canada Southern was ultimately acquired by Canadian Oil Sands Trust, in a friendly bid.
• An application before the Securities Commission for Mercator Minerals Ltd. to cease trade the shareholder rights plan of Tyler Resources Inc., in the context of a hostile bid made by Mercator for Tyler
• A large number of successful applications for arrangements involving numerous energy companies, including arrangements that were challenged by securityholders or other interested parties
• Successful defence of a large multinational company against allegations that it defectively designed and manufactured an electric blanket, leading to fire
• Several actions as plaintiff's counsel relating to negligent design and maintenance of compressors
• Defence of an engineer in litigation relating to negligent design and build of a roadway
• Defence of an architect relating to negligent design of a recreational complex