Counsel to Trustees of the British Columbia Credit Union Employees’ Pension Plan in member claim dispute

Fasken is counsel for the trustees of a pension plan in a claim brought by four of the plan’s members. The plan is a British Columbia-registered multi-employer pension plan having approximately 25 participating employers. The plaintiffs are members of a defined benefit provision of the plan.  The action was dismissed on a summary trial and an appeal from the decision was dismissed.  This is an important decision in that it confirms that discretionary decisions of trustees of a pension plan are entitled to significant deference.  In particular, unless the discretion of trustees has been surrendered to the court, there are only two circumstances in which a judge can interfere in the exercise of their discretion: 1) if the trustees have taken into account irrelevant, improper or irrational factors; or 2) if they have reached a decision that no reasonable body of trustees properly directing themselves could have reached.

Fasken represented Trustees of the British Columbia Credit Union Employees’ Pension Plan with a team comprised of Tracey M. Cohen, KC and Julia Kindrachuk.