The release by the trustees of a sum due to the pension scheme from the employers, did not make funds payable to the employer, so as to trigger the clause within the scheme trust deed which would restrain such a payment. Where an actuarial surplus had accrued within a scheme, and there was a substantial anticipated surplus, the trustees could allow the employers to deal with this by them reducing the amount of contributions to the scheme. Lord Hoffmann stressed the perils inherent in linguistic arguments of the ‘expressio unius’ variety in the context of ‘a patchwork document like the pension scheme’.
Lord Hoffmann said that the maxim expressio unius, exclusio alterius is ‘often perilous’.
Judges:
Lord Slynn of Hadley Lord Steyn Lord Hoffmann Lord Clyde Lord Scott of Foscote
Citations:
Times 10-Apr-2001, Gazette 07-Jun-2001, [2001] UKHL 20, [2001] 2 All ER 417, [2001] 1 WLR 864
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Mettoy Pension Trustees v Evans ChD 1990
Where a trustee acts under a discretion given to him by the terms of the trust the court will interfere with his action if it is clear that he would not have so acted as he did had he not failed to take into account considerations which he ought to . .
Cited – Imperial Group Pension Trust Ltd v Imperial Tobacco Ltd 1991
A company pension scheme had been operating for many years, with increases being provided for under one rule. A new rule was introduced to provide regular increases. The company was taken over, and the trustees sought clarification of the company’s . .
Cited – In Re Landau (A Bankrupt) ChD 1-Dec-1996
At the date of the bankruptcy the bankrupt was entitled to a pension, payable in the future on his attaining the age of 65 years. He was aged 61 when the bankruptcy order was made, and 64 when it was discharged. The trustee claimed to be entitled to . .
Cited – Re Vauxhall Motor Pension Fund 1989
The fact that a pension scheme cannot be amended to allow something to be done does not necessarily mean that a limited power to do that thing does not already exist within the scheme. . .
Disapproved – British Coal Corporation v British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme Trustees Ltd 1994
The court considered the distinction between a power in relation to which the duty of the employer was limited to a duty of good faith and a power in respect of which the employer was a fiduciary and which was to be exercised solely in the interests . .
Cited by:
Cited – Aon Trust Corporation Ltd v KPMG (A Firm) and others CA 28-Jul-2005
The claimants were trustees of the defendant’s pension scheme. They sought additional payments to make up a shortfall in funds, on the basis that the fund was an earnings related pension scheme, and that the company therefore had obligations to make . .
Cited – Barnardo’s v Buckinghamshire and Others SC 7-Nov-2018
The Court considered the interpretation of a clause in a pension scheme trust deed which defines the phrase ‘Retail Prices Index’ and which allows the trustees of the pension scheme to adopt a ‘replacement’ of the officially published Retail Prices . .
Cited – Sveriges Angfartygs Assurans Forening (The Swedish Club) and Others v Connect Shipping Inc and Another SC 12-Jun-2019
The Court was asked as to the construction of the phrase ‘constructive total loss’, and in particular the calculation the expenditure to be taken into account in computing the cost of recovery and or repair, where notice of loss had been served . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Financial Services, Trusts, Employment
Updated: 04 April 2022; Ref: scu.84179