Taylor v Royal Bank of Canada Trust Company (Cayman) Ltd, Royal Bank of Canada (Channel Islands) Ltd and Royal Bank of Canada

• Jurisdiction: Cayman Islands
• Judge: (Hellman, Ag. J.)
• Judgment Date: 07 May 2018
• Court: Grand Court (Cayman Islands)
• Date: 07 May 2018

Grand Court, Civil Division (Cayman Islands)

(Hellman, Ag. J.)

TAYLOR

and

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA TRUST COMPANY (CAYMAN) LIMITED, ROYAL BANK OF CANADA (CHANNEL ISLANDS) LIMITED and ROYAL BANK OF CANADA

S. Dobbyn for the plaintiff;

K. Cox for the defendants.

Cases cited:

(1)Addis v. Gramophone Co. Ltd., [1909] A.C. 488, referred to.

(2)Arnold v. Britton, [2015] UKSC 36; [2015] A.C. 1619; [2015] 2 W.L.R. 1593; [2016] 1 All E.R. 1; [2015] HLR 31, dictum of Lord Neuberger considered.

(3)Beaumont v. Greathead (1846), 135 E.R. 1039; 2 C.B. 494, referred to.

(4)Belize (Att. Gen.) v. Belize Telecom Ltd., [2009] UKPC 10; [2009] 1 W.L.R. 1988; [2009] 2 All E.R. 1127; [2009] 2 All E.R. (Comm) 1;[2009] 2 BCLC 148; [2009] BCC 433, dictum of Lord Hoffmann considered.

(5)Berry v. British Transp. Commn., [1961] 1 Q.B. 306; [1961] 3 W.L.R. 450; [1961] 3 All E.R. 65, considered.

(6)Burdett-Coutts v. Hertfordshire County Council, [1984] I.R.L.R. 91, referred to.

(7)Carroll v. Kynaston, [2010] EWCA Civ 1404; [2011] Q.B. 959; [2011] 2 W.L.R. 1346, referred to.

(8)Chandler v. Cape plc, [2012] EWCA Civ 525; [2012] 1 W.L.R. 3111; [2012] 3 All E.R. 640; [2012] I.C.R. 1293, followed.

(9)Eastwood v. Magnox Electric plc, [2004] UKHL 35; [2005] 1 A.C. 503; [2004] 3 W.L.R. 322; [2004] 3 All E.R. 991; [2004] I.C.R. 1064; [2004] I.R.L.R. 733, applied.

(10)Edwards v. Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, [2011] UKSC 58; [2012] 2 A.C. 22; [2012] 2 W.L.R. 55; [2012] 2 All E.R. 278; [2012] I.C.R. 201, applied.

(11)Electra Private Equity Partners v. KPMG Peat Marwick, [2001] BCLC 589; [2000] BCC 368, dicta of Auld, L.J. followed.

(12)Garratt v. Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd., [2011] EWCA Civ 1425; [2011] I.C.R. 880, referred to.

(13)Gunton v. Richmond-upon-Thames L.B.C., [1981] Ch. 448; [1980] 3 W.L.R. 714; [1980] 3 All E.R. 577, followed.

(14)Hemmings v. Chrissie Tomlinson Hosp., 2013 (1) CILR 254, referred to.

(15)Hill v. CA Parsons & Co. Ltd., [1972] Ch. 305; [1971] 3 W.L.R. 995; [1971] All E.R. 1345, referred to.

(16)Hussain v. Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, [2011] EWHC 1670 (QB), considered.

(17)Johnson v. Unisys Ltd., [2001] UKHL 13; [2003] 1 A.C. 518; [2001] 2 W.L.R. 1076; [2001] 2 All E.R. 801; [2001] I.C.R. 480; [2001] I.R.L.R. 279, applied.

(18)Keeley v. Fosroc Intl. Ltd., [2006] EWCA Civ 1277; [2006] I.R.L.R. 961, dicta of Auld, L.J. considered.

(19)Malik v. Bank of Credit & Comm. Intl. S.A., [1998] A.C. 20; [1997] 3 W.L.R. 95; [1997] 3 All E.R. 1, considered.

(20)Martland v. Co-operative Ins. Socy. Ltd., Transcript No. 2008 WL 833695, UK Employment Appeal Tribunal, April 19th, 2008, unreported, considered.

(21)National Westminster Bank plc v. Rabobank Nederland, [2007] EWHC 3163 (Comm); [2008] 1 All E.R. (Comm) 266; [2008] Lloyd’s Rep. 16; [2008] 6 Costs L.R. 839, referred to.

(22)Park Cakes Ltd. v. Shumba, [2013] EWCA Civ 974; [2013] I.R.L.R. 800, followed.

(23)Patel v. Mirza, [2016] UKSC 42; [2017] A.C. 467; [2016] 3 W.L.R. 399; [2017] 1 All E.R. 191; [2016] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 300, referred to.

(24)R. v. Ulcay, [2007] EWCA Crim 2379; [2008] 1 W.L.R. 1209; [2008] 1 All E.R. 547, dicta of Sir Igor Judge, P. considered.

(25)Rigby v. Ferodo Ltd., [1987] I.C.R. 457; [1987] I.R.L.R. 61, referred to.

(26)Taggart v. Canadian Life Assur. Co., [2006] O.J. No. 310; Ontario Court of Appeal, Case No. C43188, January 27th, 2006, unreported, referred to.

(27)Union Discount Co. Ltd. v. Zoller, [2001] EWCA Civ 1755; [2002] 1 W.L.R. 1517; [2002] 1 All E.R. 693; [2002] CLC 314, referred to.

(28)Wallace v. United Grain Growers Ltd., [1997] 3 S.C.R. 701; (1997), 152 DLR (4th) 1, considered.

(29)Wandsworth LBC v. D’Silva, [1997] EWCA Civ 2941; [1998] I.R.L.R. 193, dicta of Lord Woolf considered.

Legislation construed:

Grand Court Rules 1995 (Revised), O.14A, r.1:

“(1) The Court may, upon the application of a party or of its own motion, determine any question of law or construction of any document arising in any cause or matter at any stage of the proceedings where it appears to the Court that—

(a)such question is suitable for determination without a full trial of the action; and

(b)such determination will finally determine (subject only to any possible appeal) the entire cause or matter or any claim or issue therein.

(2) Upon such determination the Court may dismiss the cause or matter or make such order or judgment as it thinks just.”

O.18, r.19(1): “The Court may at any stage of the proceedings order to be struck out or amended any pleading or the indorsement of any writ in the action, or anything in any pleading or in the indorsement, on the ground that—

(a)it discloses no reasonable cause of action or defence, as the case may be; or

(b)it is scandalous, frivolous or vexatious; or

(c)it may prejudice, embarrass or delay the fair trial of the action; or

(d)it is otherwise an abuse of the process of the court,

and may order the action to be stayed or dismissed or judgment to be entered accordingly, as the case may be.

(2) No evidence shall be admissible on an application under subparagraph (1)(a).

(3) This rule shall, so far as applicable, apply to an originating summons and a petition as if the summons or petition, as the case may be, were a pleading.”

Labour Law ([2011] Revision), s.6(1):

“Every employer who enters into a contract of employment with an employee other than a casual employee or a person employed as a household domestic shall, within ten working days of entering intosuch contract, furnish the employee with a written statement of his conditions of employment in accordance with subsection (2).”

s.6(2): “The written statement referred to in subsection (1) shall state—

(a)the job title, a brief statement of the general responsibilities and duties of the employee and of any special requirements or conditions of the job;

(b)the regular hours of work, together with any particular terms or conditions relating to the hours of work;

(c)the rate of remuneration, or the method by which it may be calculated;

(d)the intervals at which remuneration is to be paid;

(e)in the case of employees whose pay is normally stated on some basis other than hourly, the hourly equivalent save that in the case of persons remunerated wholly or in part by commission the rate of commission should be stated;

(f)the period of employment, if other than indefinite;

(g)the period of probation, if any;

(h)the employee’s holiday entitlement or the method by which it may be calculated;

(i)the employee’s entitlement to sick leave; and

(j)the length of notice which the employee is obliged to give and is entitled to receive to terminate the contract of employment.”

Employment — termination — wrongful dismissal — damages — damages for wrongful dismissal is amount employee would have earned from date of dismissal to earliest date contract could have been lawfully terminated — includes loss of pension benefits that would have accrued during period

The plaintiff sought damages for breach of contract, wrongful dismissal, negligence and misrepresentation.

The plaintiff had been employed by various companies in the Royal Bank of Canada Group from March 1985 to July 2014. He had been employed by the second defendant in Guernsey from March 1985, by RBC (Bermuda) Ltd. (which had now ceased trading) from February 1996 and he joined the first defendant in September 2002.

The core terms and conditions of the plaintiff’s contract of employment were set out in a letter from the first defendant to the plaintiff dated October 29th, 2009. The letter constituted a written statement of the plaintiff’s conditions of employment within the meaning of s.6(1) of the Labour Law ([2011] Revision). The letter provided, inter alia, that the first defendant “may terminate your employment at any time without notice in accordance with the terms of RBC’s Code of Conduct.” (The court was satisfied the reference to “the terms of RBC’s Code of Conduct” was a drafting error for “the terms of the Employee Handbook.”) The plaintiff was also given an Employee Handbook, which stated that, in conjunction with the letter of employment, it contained the terms and conditions of the contract of employment. It was stated in the Handbook that if the company wished to terminate an employee’s employment, it would give four weeks’ written notice. The Handbook urged employees to become familiar with the RBC Code of Conduct and included a hyperlink to the Code.

When the plaintiff started his employment with the second defendant, he was enrolled in a Guernsey-based final salary pension plan (“the Guernsey pension plan”). He regarded it as a valuable contractual benefit. In 2009, the first defendant informed the plaintiff that it intended to stop contributing to the Guernsey pension plan and that it would instead enrol him in a Cayman pension plan. The plaintiff objected strongly. The firstdefendant continued to contribute to the Guernsey pension plan but the prospect that it would cease to do so remained an issue. On December 19th, 2013, the first defendant informed the plaintiff by letter that it would stop contributing to the Guernsey pension plan, which it did in May 2014.

On April 8th, 2014, the plaintiff was summoned to a meeting with two senior staff members, employed by the first and third defendants respectively, at which he was handed a letter terminating his employment with the first defendant with effect from July 8th, 2014, and he was put on “garden leave” until then. His employment was terminated without cause, although the court drew the reasonable inference that had the first defendant’s contributions to the Guernsey pension plan been resolved to the parties’ mutual satisfaction it was unlikely that he would have been dismissed.

The plaintiff brought a complaint for unfair dismissal before the Labour Tribunal, which found that he had been unfairly dismissed and was entitled to 29 weeks’ severance pay at CI$3,200 per week (i.e. CI$92,800), and 29 weeks’ compensation for unfair dismissal at the same...