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Civil procedure Class actions Conditions for instituting class action Members of proposed group Post retirement insurance benefits Standard for intervention applicable on appeal from decision determining that question not identical, similar or related Whether question can be found identical, similar or related within meaning of art. 1003(a) C.C.P. if it appears from record that underlying analysis and answer to question posed will likely be different from one subgroup to another Test laid down in Western Canadian Shopping Centres Inc. v. Dutton, [2001] 2 S.C.R. 534 Code of Civil Procedure, R.S.Q. c. C 25, art. 1003(a).

The respondent, Michel Dell’Aniello, is a former employee of the Seagram Company Limited (“Seagram”) and the vice president of a Seagram subsidiary. In December 2000, Vivendi S.A. acquired Seagram, which at the time was a leading producer of wine and spirits in Canada. In December 2001, Seagram’s assets related to the production and distribution of wine and spirits were sold. Seagram then became Vivendi Universal Canada Inc., which in turn became Vivendi Canada Inc. The employment contract of Seagram’s officers and employees had various components, including the supplementary health insurance plan, the predecessor of the current insurance coverage plan (“plan”), which covered them and their dependents both during their working lives and for the full length of their retirement, as shown by a 1977 document describing the plan. Seagram’s plan covered employees not only during their working lives but also for the full length of their retirement. On July 15, 1985, the plan was revised and its name changed to Supplementary (Extended) Health Insurance. The company added the following footnote, which had not been in the 1977 document: “While Seagram expects to continue this Supplementary Health Insurance Plan indefinitely, future conditions cannot be foreseen, thus it necessarily reserves the right to modify or suspend the Plan at any time, or to increase the portion of the cost you pay, whether you are active or retired.” On September 5, 2008, Vivendi wrote to all retirees and surviving spouses to inform them that it was unilaterally reducing the plan’s benefits starting on January 1, 2009. Only retirees were still in the plan, since Vivendi no longer had any operations in Canada related to the production and distribution of wine and spirits.