Châteauneuf v. Canada
T-2728-96
Morneau P.
26/11/97
23 pp.
Motion under RR. 5 and 1711 by which defendant questioning right of plaintiff Robert Châteauneuf to bring class action on behalf of collective plaintiff-Plaintiff seeking to recover in contractual damages amount representing total amount of dividends due to former employees of Singer company under pension plan created by latter-Two separate rights: right to receive flat pension benefits and separate right to receive dividends produced during plan-Defendant challenging plaintiff Châteauneuf's intention to make action class action-Plaintiff trying to justify class action by stating average age of pensioners 82 and many of them not having financial resources to oppose federal government in courts individually-Class action must meet certain minimum requirements-Must be numerous persons with same interest-Must be common fund-Plaintiff showing was in fact common fund determined or determinable from accounting data supplied to representative plaintiff by defendant herself-All members of collective plaintiff, including representative plaintiff Châteauneuf, certainly having same general interest in obtaining share in fund-Defendant's submission representative plaintiff Châteauneuf not to date providing sufficient evidence as to personal identity of each individual in class, namely collective plaintiff, inadmissible-Plaintiff's statement of claim and affidavit filed by representative plaintiff Châteauneuf clearly establishing Robert Châteauneuf through past action in position to provide adequate representation for and fully defend rights of members of collective plaintiff-Motion dismissed-Federal Court Rules, C.R.C., c. 663, RR. 5, 1711.