Can an employer in its capacity as a sponsor (and not as plan administrator) obtain legal advice to amend a pension plan?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Pryden v. Swiss Reinsurance Company, 2010 ONSC 6679 (CanLII):
Consequently, if an employer in its capacity as plan sponsor (and not as plan administrator) obtains legal advice with respect to its power to amend a pension plan, such advice is not obtained for the trust and the plan members have no proprietary interest in the legal advice obtained by the employer. Those are decisions taken under the “employer’s hat” and are not subject to the joint interest principle (Patrick v. Telus Communications Inc., [2005] B.C.J. No. 2829 (S.C.) at paras. 18-21). (2) Application of the law to the evidence
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