The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that SNC-Lavalin cannot be sued for keeping to itself a critical phone call on the fate of a bribery prosecution against it, Ontario's top court ruled Wednesday. The Globe's Sean Fine writes that the bribery case led to political fallout in 2019. Under Ontario securities law, publicly traded companies are obliged to tell shareholders "forthwith" about "material change" that affects their businesses, operations or capital. If they do not, shareholders have a right to sue. SNC-Lavalin was facing charges of corruption and fraud over its alleged conduct in Libya in 2011. It had been seeking a deferred prosecution agreement. A conviction could have disqualified the company from competing for lucrative national and international contracts. The Ontario Court of Appeal acknowledged the importance of the phone call, made to SNC from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada on Sept. 4, 2018. In that call, prosecutors told the company it would not be invited to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement. The call, however, did not alter the status quo, and was therefore not a material change, Justice Lise Favreau wrote in a 3-0 ruling, upholding the findings of a lower court.