When Is A Decision Final?

Introduction

It is now easier for Parliament to enact legislation to override judicial decisions that it does not like. The Supreme Court has held that declaratory legislation -i.e. legislation that "clarifies" already existing legislation- can apply retroactively and can circumvent the binding directives of an appellate court. In Régie des rentes du Québec v. Canada Bread Company Ltd., 2013 SCC 46, the majority of the Supreme Court has begun to water down the principles of res judicata and issue estoppel.

Background

The appellant, Régies des rentes du Québec ("Régie"), is a government agency responsible for applying Quebec's Supplemental Pension Plans Act, R.S.Q., c. R-15.1 ("SPPA"). The respondents, various companies collectively referred to in this blog post as "Multi-Marques", are the contributing employers of a pension fund (the "Fund"). When Multi-Marked joined the Fund, the trustees granted pension credits to Multi-Marques employees to reflect the years of service they accumulated before joining the Fund. Multi-Marque was to make payments over a 15-year period to remedy the deficit. Before the 15-year time frame elapsed, Multi-Marques closed two divisions, leaving a solvency deficiency in the Fund. The Fund rules provided that the benefits paid to the employees could be reduced if extrinsic factors led to Multi-Marques being...