Aegon Can. Inc. v. ING Can. Inc., (2003) 179 O.A.C. 196 (CA)

• Judge: Weiler, Goudge and Sharpe, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ontario)
• Case Date: December 08, 2003
• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Citations: (2003), 179 O.A.C. 196 (CA)

Aegon Can. Inc. v. ING Can. Inc. (2003), 179 O.A.C. 196 (CA)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2003] O.A.C. TBEd. DE.042

Aegon Canada Inc. and Transamerica Life Canada (applicants/respondents) v. ING Canada Inc. (respondent/appellant) and Pyar Dossal and Jane Benn on their own behalf and on behalf of those persons listed in Schedule "A" hereto who are members and former members of the NN Life Insurance Company of Canada Pension Plan for Employees and also past members and former of the Employees' Pension Plan of the Halifax Insurance Companies or the beneficiaries of such persons (intervenors)

(C39652)

Indexed As: Aegon Canada Inc. et al. v. ING Canada Inc. et al.

Ontario Court of Appeal

Weiler, Goudge and Sharpe, JJ.A.

December 8, 2003.

Summary:

The Ontario Superior Court, in a decision reported [2003] O.T.C. 48, ruled that the vendor breached warranties arising from a share purchase agreement with respect to contributions to a pension plan. The vendor appealed.

The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Master and Servant - Topic 1943.1

Remuneration - Pension or retirement benefits - Contribution by employer - Contribution holiday - [See Master and Servant - Topic 1946 ].

Master and Servant - Topic 1946

Remuneration - Pension or retirement benefits - Variation or amendment of plan - A 1969 trust funded the employee pension plan at Halifax Life - The trust provided that (1) upon termination, Halifax Life employees were entitled to any surplus, and (2) no amendment to the trust "shall authorize or permit any part of the capital or income of the Fund to be used for or diverted to purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of the Members ... except as may be approved by the Minister or otherwise authorized or permitted by law" - In 1989, Halifax Life and NN Life merged under the name NN Life - NN Life had its own employee pension plan - The assets and liabilities of the Halifax Life plan were transferred to the NN Life plan - The Halifax Life part showed a surplus - The NN Life part showed a deficit - Combined, they showed a surplus - NN Life took a contribution holiday - The Ontario Court of Appeal agreed that NN Life was not entitled to take contribution holidays and was not entitled to have reference to the assets of the 1969 trust when calculating its obligations towards those who were not beneficiaries of that trust.

Cases Noticed:

Buschau et al. v. Rogers Cablesystems Inc. et al. (2001), 148 B.C.A.C. 263; 243 W.A.C. 263; 83 B.C.L.R.(3d) 261 (C.A.), consd. [para. 7].

Stearns Catalytic Pension Plans, Re, [1994] 2 S.C.R. 611; 168 N.R. 81; 155 A.R. 81; 73 W.A.C. 81; [1994] 8 W.W.R. 305; 20 Alta. L.R.(3d) 225; 4 C.C.E.L.(2d) 1; 3 E.T.R.(2d) 1, dist. [para. 9].

Schmidt v. Air Products Canada Ltd. - see Stearns Catalytic Pension Plans, Re.

Baxter v. Ontario (Superintendent of Financial Services) (2003), 33 C.C.P.B. 43 (Fin. Serv. Trib.), dist. [para. 12].

Heilig and Andrews et al. v. Dominion Securities Pitfield Ltd. et al. (1989), 33 O.A.C. 229; 67 O.R.(2d) 577 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 13].

Counsel:

Gerald L.R. Ranking, for the respondent/appellant;

J.A. Prestage, for the applicants/respondents;

Michael Mazzuca, for the intervenors, Pyar Dossal and Jane Benn.

This appeal was heard on November 3, 2003, by Weiler, Goudge and Sharpe, JJ.A., of the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The decision of the Court of Appeal was delivered by Sharpe, J.A., and released on December 8, 2003.