Pensions, Contracts and Trusts: Legal Issues on Decision Making

We are delighted to announce that David Pollard‘s new book: Pensions, Contracts and Trusts: Legal Issues on Decision Making has been published by Bloomsbury Professional.

It covers the legal issues arising where decisions are made under discretions or powers – mainly in a pension scheme context, but also covering discretions under family trusts, contracts, directors, insolvency practitioners and commercial trusts.

This new title focuses on the important legal principles confirmed in the Eclairs and Braganza decisions of the Supreme Court.  The courts will review a decision based on:

• Proper purposes
• Due consideration of relevant factors – Braganza 1
• Full perversity (no reasonable decision maker) – Braganza 2

These limits are applied by the courts not just to fiduciaries (such as trustees or directors or insolvency practitioners), but also to non-fiduciaries (eg banks and employers).

These issues are important both to decision makers and their advisers (how do they make a non-challengeable decision) and to those seeking to challenge a decision once made (or proposed).  The book considers the three principles and avoids the use of “good faith” or “best interest” tests as being too ambiguously defined to give much guidance to decision makers (or those seeking to challenge decisions).

Recent case law covered in the book includes:

• Equitas Insurance (CA) – Insurer discretion described as absolute (2019)
• British Airways (CA) – pension plan: proper purposes (2018)
• IBM UK Holdings v Dalgleish (CA) – employer powers under pension plans (2017)
• Braganza (SC) – contractual discretions (2015)
• Eclairs (SC) – directors powers: proper purposes (2015)
• Pitt v Holt (SC) – trustee decisions (2013)

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, you can do so here. For an exclusive 20% discount, please use this code: BPLPCT20.

David Pollard is a leading and highly experienced lawyer in the pensions field and related areas. He switched to practice as a barrister at the end of 2017, after 37 years practice as a solicitor, including 25 years as a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. This book is his fourth published by Bloomsbury Professional, following Corporate Insolvency: Pension Rights, Corporate Insolvency: Employment Rights, and Employment Law and Pensions.

If you have any questions, please email events@wilberforce.co.uk