Ontario’s highest court denied the drugmaker’s bid to limit potential damages in a lawsuit filed by Canadian patients, who claimed they developed diabetes after using the Zyprexa antipsycyotic, Bloomberg News writes. The Court of Appeal for Ontario in Toronto late last week denied Lilly’s request for a hearing, Matthew Baer, a plaintiffs’ lawyer, told the news service.

The three-judge panel upheld a lower court ruling that plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit may try to recover money the drugmaker made from sales rather than seek damages. The plaintiffs sought $705 million in damages in their initial claim, which is worth about $900 million in Canadian currency.

“We are pleased that the courts continue to agree with our theory of the case and we look forward to proceeding to trial as soon as possible,” Baer tells Bloomberg. “It is mystifying to us that Eli Lilly has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to settle these types of cases in the United States but feels the need to continue to fight against Canadians.”

Opting to go after sales has “the power to make defendants liable for truly enormous amounts of money,” Judge Sidney Lederman wrote last July in granting Lilly permission to appeal a trial judge’s ruling allowing the claim. “The ramifications of exposure to this type of liability will extend beyond the parties to affect not just the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, but also the securities market.” A divisional court panel upheld the lower court decision. Lilly can appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In the US, Lillly has paid $1.2 billion to settle 30,000 lawsuits from people who claim that Zyprexa caused them to suffer diabetes or other diseases. And last month, the drugmaker took a $1.4 billion charge and disclosed “advanced discussions” are under way to settle a long-standing criminal investigation into its marketing of the antipsychotic (back story).