Tort

Negligence claim - employee joining company's pension scheme where employer was trustee - employee leaving employment then re-employed but not rejoining scheme - employer owing no duty to give employee advice concerning membership of schemeOutram v Academy Plastics Ltd: CA (Peter Gibson, Chadwick and Tuckey LJJ): 19 April 2000

The claimant was the widow of an employee of the company who joined its pension scheme in 1974.

In 1994 he resigned and ceased to be a member of the scheme.He was re-employed in 1995 until he resigned through ill health.

He had not applied to rejoin the pension scheme.

He died aged 36.The claimant alleged that the company should have advised him to rejoin the scheme.

Had he done so on his death his estate might have been entitled to a cash sum to purchase an annuity for his dependants.Instead the claimant was only entitled to return of his contributions.

The judge struck out the claim on the basis that there was no such duty in tort.

The claimant appealed.Rajeev Thacker (Simmons, Borehamwood) for the claimant; Fenner Moeran (Hodders) for the company.Held, dismissing the appeal, that as the claimant did not allege that the duty to give advice was contractual arising expressly or impliedly out of the contract of employment, it was not possible to see how any such duty could be derived from the tort of negligence; and that, accordingly, since there was no general duty on the employer to provide information and advice to the claimant's husband in order to prevent economic loss or any such duty on an employer as trustee of a pension scheme, the claimant's claim should be struck out.