Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Pensions — Pension plan — Trust — Termination — Appeals — Judicial review — Issue estoppel — Whether applicants are precluded by issue estoppel from re litigating issue of their “exclusive” entitlement to surplus in pension plan on termination of plan.

The parties have engaged in a long running dispute over an actuarial surplus accumulated in a defined benefit employee pension plan. The plan has been administered by the respondent since it purchased the applicants’ former employer. Following litigation between the parties that reached the Supreme Court of Canada, the applicants requested that the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada terminate the plan or declare it already terminated. The respondent sought approval from the Superintendent of amendments which would open the plan to new employees. The Superintendent approved the amendments sought by the respondent, and refused to terminate the plan or declare it to have been terminated. The applicants sought judicial review of the Superintendent’s decision. While initially successful in the Federal Court, on appeal the Federal Court of Appeal set aside the decision of the Federal Court, thus restoring the decision of the Superintendent. The Supreme Court of Canada refused leave to appeal from the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal. The applicants then submitted eight questions to the Superintendent which were said not to have been addressed by the Superintendent in her earlier decision or which were said to have arisen since that decision. The Superintendent decided not to give fresh consideration to the issues. The applicants’ application for judicial review to the Federal Court was dismissed. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld that decision.