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Carleton University has a won a $500,000 court judgment which allows it to reclaim pension benefits paid to a dead political science professor whose body went undiscovered in the Outaouais woods for more than five years.
George Roseme was 77 years old and suffering from early-stage Alzheimer’s disease when he went missing from his farm in LaPêche, north of Gatineau, in September 2007. A 10-day search, led by the MRC des Collines, could find no trace of him.
At the time, Roseme was receiving about $7,000 a month in pension benefits from Carleton.
University officials didn’t know Roseme was missing and presumed dead until a newspaper article about the case appeared in January 2009, and was brought to the attention of Carleton’s pension manger, Neil Courtemanche.
Courtemanche wrote to Roseme’s official heir, his former partner Lynne Threlfall: He said the university would be suspending the professor’s pension cheques and seeking the return of $70,000 in overpayment. (Roseme had opted for a pension that would be paid only to him during his lifetime with nothing left to his heirs or estate.)
But Threlfall’s lawyer insisted that Roseme, in law, was presumed to be alive under the Civil Code of Quebec, and that the university had to continue pension payments until he was officially declared dead. The law provides for such a declaration after someone has been missing for seven years so that their financial affairs can be finalized.
After an exchange of lawyers’ letters, the university resumed the pension payments.
More than four years later, in July 2013, a dog discovered human remains in some dense woods not far from Roseme’s farm. Dental records confirmed the remains were those of the missing Carleton professor. A coroner subsequently concluded the death was accidental since there were no signs of foul play.
Carleton officials then launched a lawsuit against Threlfall and Roseme’s estate to recover the pension benefits paid to him while he was dead. The university sought $497,332.64 and interest accrued from February 2014.
A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled in Carleton’s favour in February 2016, but Threlfall appealed that decision. She argued that Roseme was entitled to the pension payments while he was presumed alive, and that Carleton was not entitled to retroactive repayment after he was proven dead.
But in a decision released this week, a three-member panel of Quebec’s Court of Appeal rejected those arguments. The court said Roseme’s pension plan clearly notes that the “benefits end when the beneficiary dies.”
What’s more, the appeal court said that while the law presumed Roseme to be alive, the civil code provision was “protective in character” and also preserved the rights of those connected to him. “Accordingly, when the payments were made between September 2007 and July 2013, they were presumptively valid, but subject to review if proof of death operated to rebut that presumption,” the court ruled.
Threlfall, who still lives in La Pêche, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Born and raised in California, Roseme studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also an acclaimed track and field athlete. He won the NCAA championship in the javelin throw in 1952 before moving to Ottawa in 1964 to begin his long academic career at Carleton.
查看原文...
George Roseme was 77 years old and suffering from early-stage Alzheimer’s disease when he went missing from his farm in LaPêche, north of Gatineau, in September 2007. A 10-day search, led by the MRC des Collines, could find no trace of him.
At the time, Roseme was receiving about $7,000 a month in pension benefits from Carleton.
University officials didn’t know Roseme was missing and presumed dead until a newspaper article about the case appeared in January 2009, and was brought to the attention of Carleton’s pension manger, Neil Courtemanche.
Courtemanche wrote to Roseme’s official heir, his former partner Lynne Threlfall: He said the university would be suspending the professor’s pension cheques and seeking the return of $70,000 in overpayment. (Roseme had opted for a pension that would be paid only to him during his lifetime with nothing left to his heirs or estate.)
But Threlfall’s lawyer insisted that Roseme, in law, was presumed to be alive under the Civil Code of Quebec, and that the university had to continue pension payments until he was officially declared dead. The law provides for such a declaration after someone has been missing for seven years so that their financial affairs can be finalized.
After an exchange of lawyers’ letters, the university resumed the pension payments.
More than four years later, in July 2013, a dog discovered human remains in some dense woods not far from Roseme’s farm. Dental records confirmed the remains were those of the missing Carleton professor. A coroner subsequently concluded the death was accidental since there were no signs of foul play.
Carleton officials then launched a lawsuit against Threlfall and Roseme’s estate to recover the pension benefits paid to him while he was dead. The university sought $497,332.64 and interest accrued from February 2014.
A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled in Carleton’s favour in February 2016, but Threlfall appealed that decision. She argued that Roseme was entitled to the pension payments while he was presumed alive, and that Carleton was not entitled to retroactive repayment after he was proven dead.
But in a decision released this week, a three-member panel of Quebec’s Court of Appeal rejected those arguments. The court said Roseme’s pension plan clearly notes that the “benefits end when the beneficiary dies.”
What’s more, the appeal court said that while the law presumed Roseme to be alive, the civil code provision was “protective in character” and also preserved the rights of those connected to him. “Accordingly, when the payments were made between September 2007 and July 2013, they were presumptively valid, but subject to review if proof of death operated to rebut that presumption,” the court ruled.
Threlfall, who still lives in La Pêche, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Born and raised in California, Roseme studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also an acclaimed track and field athlete. He won the NCAA championship in the javelin throw in 1952 before moving to Ottawa in 1964 to begin his long academic career at Carleton.
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