Biovail, Melnyk in court over annual meeting

A lawyer for Biovail Corp. appeared in court Tuesday to defend how the company's annual meeting was conducted. Biovail founder and former CEO Eugene Melnyk tried but failed to shake up the drug company's board and management at last month's annual meeting. Melnyk is seeking a Superior Court declaration that the June 25 meeting proceeded illegally after he withdrew his dissident proxies before the vote, leaving less than half of the company's stock represented. Biovail lawyer Joel Richler argued that a hasty board decision to reduce the quorum requirement to 25 per cent is valid and will be made permanent in a future stockholder vote. Melnyk was not present at Tuesday's hearing, nor were senior members of the current Biovail team he wants to eject. Richler argued that Melnyk's withdrawal of his proxies violated an agreed-on... [read full story]