2 total
Court reduces executor and solicitor compensation on passing of accounts.
The estate trustee applied to pass accounts and sought compensation for work performed both as trustee and as solicitor in administering the estate.
A beneficiary objected to the amounts claimed, arguing the compensation and legal fees were excessive given the simple and uncomplicated nature of the estate administration.
The court reviewed the principles governing trustee compensation under the Trustee Act and the established five-factor test, emphasizing that percentage-based tariffs are only a rough guide and must yield to the overarching requirement of fairness and reasonableness.
Finding that reliance on standard percentage tariffs produced unreasonable results in a straightforward estate of modest complexity, the court reduced both the executor’s compensation and the legal fees claimed for probate work.
The court substantially upheld the objections and fixed the trustee’s total compensation at a lower amount reflecting the nature and value of the work performed.
Union certified for tag-end unit; Board rejects employer's build-up deferral request and seasonal exclusion.
The applicant union applied for certification of a tag-end bargaining unit of quality control technicians at the respondent's plant.
The respondent requested a deferral of the application based on a projected build-up of the workforce, and sought to exclude seasonal employees from the unit.
The Board declined to defer the application, finding that the projected build-up was dependent on uncertain sales projections and lacked the requisite degree of certainty.
The Board also refused to exclude seasonal employees, concluding that the quality control technicians did not share the distinct community of interest of seasonal production employees.
Finding that more than 55% of the employees in the unit were members of the applicant, the Board certified the union.
