The purchaser of a business said that the company had made insufficient contributions to its pensions fund before the transfer, and sought payment of the sums underpaid. The defendants argued that, applying Hastings-Bass, unless that principle were satisfied, the trustees’ decision as to the amount to be transferred should not be disturbed.
Held: Hastings-Bass and Mettoy involved the voluntary exercise by trustees of a discretion, whereas here the trustees were under an obligation to exercise their discretion at a particular time and after fulfilling a given condition. Having found that they had not complied with that obligation, so that the question was how their failure to perform that obligation should be remedied.
Citations:
[1990] 1 PLR 179, (1992) IRLR 27, [1991] Pen LR 225
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Distinguished – 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 by:
Appeal from – Stannard v Fisons Pension Trust Limited CA 1991
Fisons had sold their fertiliser division to Norsk Hydro. Acting on advice of actuaries and thinking that the fund was in deficit, the trustees made a transfer to a new fund to provide for pensions of transferring employees in accordance with a . .
Cited – Pitt and Another v Holt and Another ChD 18-Jan-2010
The claimant sought to unravel a settlement she had made as receiver for her late husband, saying that it had been made without consideration of its Inheritance Tax implications. The Revenue said that there was no operative mistake so as to allow . .
Cited – Futter and Another v Revenue and Customs; Pitt v Same SC 9-May-2013
Application of Hastings-Bass Rule
F had created two settlements. Distributions were made, but overlooking the effect of section 2(4) of the 2002 Act, creating a large tax liability. P had taken advice on the investment of the proceeds of a damages claim and created a discretionary . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Trusts, Equity
Updated: 05 August 2022; Ref: scu.245022
