Webster v. British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

The Court -- The appellant in this appeal unfortunately died after leave was granted by the Court. This, coupled with the passage of legislation which compels the payment of a death benefit amounting to $161,325, have radically altered the situation which was presented in the application for leave to appeal. The death benefit would not have been payable if any pension benefits had been paid to the appellant. The death benefit amounts to basically the same sum which was awarded by the trial court for loss of the appellant's pension benefit when interest payable to Webster is taken into account. Under these circumstances, there is no reason to interfere with the result arrived at by the British Columbia Court of Appeal. We specifically refrain from commenting upon the issues, questions of law, and principles raised in the courts below. These issues, particularly what significance should be assigned to pensions in determining what constitutes reasonable notice of termination of employment, we must leave for another occasion when all the relevant factors and legislation have been considered by the courts below.

The appeal is therefore dismissed. In these special circumstances there should be no costs.