Amanda Darrach

Two Canadian citizens residing abroad for more than five years challenged the constitutionality of provisions of the Canada Elections Act that denied the right to vote in federal elections to non-resident citizens absent from Canada for five consecutive years or more.

The Attorney General conceded a breach of s. 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The majority held that the five-year limit could not be justified under s. 1, finding that the restriction was not minimally impairing and that the vague electoral fairness objective was outweighed by the deleterious effects of disenfranchising well over one million non-resident Canadians.

The relevant impugned provisions were declared of no force or effect and the Act was modified to extend the vote to all non-resident citizens.

The appellants, representing a local union, appealed a trial judgment that dismissed their claims for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of confidence against former union employees who left to form a competing union.

The respondents cross-appealed the trial judge's finding that they breached their duty of loyalty by soliciting union stewards before resigning, and the damages awarded for that breach.

The Divisional Court upheld the trial judge's findings on liability, concluding that the former business manager was not a fiduciary and that the employees breached their duty of loyalty by competing while still employed.

However, the court allowed the cross-appeal on damages, reducing the awards to nominal damages of $500 per employee because the union failed to prove the breach caused actual financial loss.

The representative plaintiff in a class action regarding the financial deterioration of a pension plan moved for approval of two settlements totaling $1,050,000.

The settlements depleted the remaining insurance limits of the settling defendants.

The court found the settlements to be fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, noting that no class members opposed them.

The court approved the settlements, the distribution protocol, and granted leave to discontinue the action against two impecunious defendants without costs.

The plaintiffs, having achieved partial success against individual "HOPE defendants" for breach of loyalty but failing entirely against "Carpenter defendants" for interference with economic interests, sought substantial costs.

The defendants, having largely succeeded, proposed the plaintiffs pay a portion of their costs or that each party bear their own.

The court, emphasizing proportionality and the modest damages awarded against the HOPE defendants, ordered that each party bear their own costs, finding this outcome to be fair and proportionate given the complex "turf warfare" between unions and the disparate success against different defendant groups.

The plaintiff union sued former employees and officials associated with a rival union following the creation of a new local that successfully organized workers previously represented by the plaintiff.

The plaintiffs alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, breach of employee duties of loyalty and confidentiality, and unlawful interference with contractual relations.

The court held the principal departing employee was not a fiduciary and that most information used in the organizing campaign was either public or not proven to have been misused.

However, several former employees breached basic duties of loyalty by preparing and initiating a competing organizing campaign before resigning and by failing to give reasonable notice of departure.

The court rejected claims of tortious interference against the rival union and its representatives.

Limited damages were awarded against the former employees for breach of employee duties.

The Ontario Energy Board appealed a decision that had required it to apply a mandatory prudence framework when assessing Ontario Power Generation compensation costs in rate-setting.

The majority held tribunal participation in defending its own decision was proper in this regulatory context and found no impermissible bootstrapping on appeal.

The Court held the governing statute did not require a single prudence methodology and permitted the Board to use a mixed approach for costs that were partly committed and partly subject to managerial discretion.

The Board’s disallowance of $145 million in compensation costs was found reasonable, and its original decision was reinstated.

The respondents, Canadian citizens living in the United States for more than five years, challenged the constitutionality of provisions in the Canada Elections Act that prohibited them from voting in federal elections.

The application judge found the provisions violated section 3 of the Charter and were not saved under section 1.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that while the provisions infringed section 3, they were demonstrably justified under section 1.

The majority found the pressing and substantial objective was to preserve the social contract between citizens' obligation to obey the law and their right to elect lawmakers, and that the five-year limit was a minimally impairing and proportionate means of achieving this objective.

The representative plaintiffs in two certified class actions brought a motion to complete the administration of the settlement, discharge the administrator, and approve a cy-près distribution of the remaining $5,373.74 to a charity.

The court granted the discharge but denied the cy-près distribution.

Applying the principle that cy-près should not be used when direct compensation is practicable, the court ordered the remaining funds to be distributed equally among six class members who had submitted late claims due to mail delivery failures.

The Attorney General of Canada moved for a stay pending appeal of a judgment declaring provisions of the Canada Elections Act that restricted non-resident citizens from voting unconstitutional.

The application judge had found the five-year non-residency limit violated section 3 of the Charter.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the motion for a stay, finding that while there was a serious issue to be tried, the risk of irreparable harm was balanced between the parties, and the balance of convenience favoured refusing the stay to allow newly enfranchised non-resident citizens to vote in upcoming federal by-elections.

The defendants sought leave to appeal a decision granting the plaintiffs leave to pursue claims under Part XXIII.1 of the Securities Act and certifying the action as a class proceeding.

The plaintiffs alleged the corporate defendant misrepresented its equity market risk by failing to disclose its decision to abandon hedging and reinsurance of guaranteed products.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal, finding no good reason to doubt the correctness of the motion judge's conclusions that the plaintiffs had a reasonable possibility of success at trial and that the common law misrepresentation claims were suitable for certification alongside the statutory claims.

Following certification of a pension-related class proceeding, the plaintiff sought partial indemnity costs of over $210,000 for the certification motion.

The defendants conceded entitlement to costs but argued the claimed amount was excessive and opposed joint and several liability.

Applying the principles governing certification motion costs, including those articulated in Pearson v. Inco Ltd., the court determined that the plaintiff’s claimed costs were somewhat excessive and unsupported in part.

The court fixed fair and reasonable partial indemnity costs at $175,000 inclusive of disbursements and taxes.

The defendants were not held jointly and severally liable; instead, four groups of defendants were ordered to each pay an equal share.

Following certification of a securities class action, the court determined the appropriate costs award arising from the leave and certification motions.

The moving parties sought more than $1.18 million in fees and disbursements on a partial indemnity basis.

The court emphasized the need for transparency, proportionality, and historical benchmarking when assessing certification-motion costs under Rule 57.01(1).

After adjusting excessive hourly rates and disbursements, and considering historical averages for comparable certification motions, the court fixed costs at $467,234 payable forthwith, with an additional $100,000 in disbursements payable in the cause.

The plaintiffs sought leave under s. 138.8 of the Securities Act and certification under the Class Proceedings Act to bring an action against Manulife Financial Corporation and its former executives.

The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants misrepresented the adequacy of Manulife's risk management practices and failed to disclose its massive unhedged exposure to equity market risk prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

The court granted leave, finding a reasonable possibility of success at trial, and certified the action as a class proceeding, certifying seven common issues.

The plaintiff sought to certify a class action on behalf of members of the Eastern Canada Car Carriers Pension Plan against the plan's trustees, administrative agent, and actuaries.

The plaintiff alleged that the defendants negligently or in breach of trust granted early retirement benefits when the plan had ongoing solvency issues, leading to a reduction in benefits for plan members.

The court found that the pleadings disclosed causes of action in negligence and breach of trust, the class was identifiable, there were common issues, a class proceeding was the preferable procedure, and the representative plaintiff was suitable.

The motion for certification was granted.

The appellants appealed from the Court of Appeal's reversal of the CCAA court's decision regarding the priority of pension plan wind-up deficiency claims over court-ordered DIP financing charges.

The majority held that wind-up deficiencies under s. 75(1)(b) of the Pension Benefits Act were subject to a statutory deemed trust under s. 57(4), but that the deemed trust was superseded by the DIP charge by virtue of the doctrine of federal paramountcy.

The majority further held that while the employer-administrator breached its fiduciary duty by failing to ensure the pension plan beneficiaries had adequate notice and representation in the CCAA proceedings, a constructive trust was not an appropriate remedy because the breach did not result in an identifiable asset that it would be unjust for the wrongdoer to retain.

This appeal considered whether actuarial surpluses recorded in federal public-sector superannuation accounts were assets in which plan members held legal or equitable interests.

The Court held the accounts were statutory accounting records tracking Consolidated Revenue Fund transactions, not segregated asset pools.

It rejected claims based on proprietary entitlement, fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, constructive trust, and alleged expropriation.

The Court further held the statutory amendments authorized debiting surplus amounts and did not require compensation.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.

A municipal conflict of interest application sought removal of a mayor from office under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

The respondent mayor brought a motion to convert the proceeding from an application to an action requiring a full trial with viva voce evidence.

The court held that the Act does not require all such proceedings to proceed by trial and that applications may be determined on affidavit evidence, subject to the court’s discretion to order oral evidence or a trial of issues where necessary.

At this preliminary stage, the evidentiary record was incomplete and it was premature to determine whether material facts were in dispute.

The motion to convert the proceeding to an action was therefore dismissed without prejudice.

The parties consented to an order fixing the costs of the appeal at $100,000, all inclusive, payable to the respondent Crown.

The appellants, representing federal public servants, RCMP, and Canadian Forces personnel, appealed the dismissal of their actions seeking the return of over $28 billion to their pension plans.

The Government had amortized and later withdrawn actuarial surpluses from the Superannuation Accounts.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the Superannuation Accounts were merely legislated ledgers containing no actual assets, as employee contributions were deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The Court held that the Government did not owe a fiduciary duty to the plan members regarding the surplus, nor was it unjustly enriched.

Furthermore, the 2000 amendments to the governing statutes clearly authorized the Government to withdraw the actuarial surplus.