A group of pensioners filed a class-action lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court against Royal Trust Investment Services, now part of Royal Bank of Canada, to assert their rights to a C$150 million (U.S.$99.4 million) surplus in Royal Trust’s pension fund, and to seek damages for what they claim were wrongful actions by Royal Bank and Royal Trust in managing the plan in the past decade.
All previous Canadian legal precedents have found pensioners have the right to pension plan surpluses, said Paul Starita, former president and managing partner of Royal Trust and spokesman for the pensioners’ group, the Association for Pension Enhancement at Royal Trust. "For three years, the bank has refused to speak to us,” he said, so the pensioners decided to sue. The lawsuit also alleges that Royal Trust and Royal Bank breached their fiduciary duties in their overall management of the plan. Royal Bank didn’t return calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.
