Ari Kaplan

The applicant employer sought to certify a class action on consent for settlement purposes regarding a long-standing dispute over pension plan indexing amendments.

The provincial pension regulator, FSRA, intervened to oppose the settlement and sought to stay the court proceedings in favour of a regulatory hearing before the Financial Services Tribunal.

The court granted FSRA leave to intervene but dismissed the stay motion, finding it had jurisdiction to adjudicate the pension dispute and that a class proceeding was the preferable procedure to achieve finality for all known and unknown plan members.

The action was certified as a class proceeding.

The applicant transit authority sought court approval of a negotiated settlement in a class proceeding concerning entitlement to proceeds arising from the demutualization of a life insurance company that issued group life insurance policies to employees and retirees.

The settlement provided that approximately 62% of the proceeds would be distributed to eligible employees and retirees and the remainder to the employer, with deductions for distribution and legal costs.

The court applied the established test under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 for approving class action settlements and considered factors including fairness of allocation, litigation risk, negotiation process, notice to class members, and absence of objections.

The court concluded that the settlement was fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class and approved the distribution scheme and related legal and administrative fees.

Ancillary orders were granted permitting sharing of contact information for distribution purposes and sealing the final list of eligible recipients to protect personal information.