Biovail lawyer defends annual meeting process assailed by Melnyk

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - A lawyer for Biovail Corp. (TSX:BVF) spoke in court Tuesday to defend the conduct of the annual meeting at which founder and former CEO Eugene Melnyk failed to shake up the drug company's board and management. 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 counsel 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 protocol under... [read full story]