Date Announced

November 15, 2023

Lead Office

Toronto

On March 15, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Yatar v. TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, 2024 SCC 8. The case was concerned with a court's exercise of discretion as to whether to undertake judicial review on the merits in light of a limited statutory right of appeal, in relation to the respondent, Ummugulsam Yatar ("Ms. Yatar"), contesting the denial of her insurance benefits, following an accident in 2010.

Background

In Ms. Yatar's claim to the Licence Appeal Tribunal ("LAT") in 2019, her housekeeping benefits and home maintenance benefits were dismissed with the reasoning that the claim was time-barred since 2014. In the application to judicial review the LAT's decision, the Divisional Court agreed with the LAT and dismissed Ms. Yatar's claim. In the appeal to the Divisional Court's decision, the Court of Appeal also agreed with the LAT and found that Ms. Yatar had failed to show that the LAT adjudicator's reconsideration decision was unreasonable. The case, Yatar v. TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, 2024 SCC 8, is an appeal to the Court of Appeal's decision.

Decision

The Supreme Court of Canada held that, where there is a statutory right of appeal that is limited to questions of law, judicial review remains available for questions of fact or mixed fact and law. The Ontario courts had held that judicial review should only be undertaken in parallel to a limited statutory appeal in exceptional or rare cases. The Supreme Court ruled that this was an error, as a limited right of appeal does not reflect a legislative intention to restrict recourse to the courts on questions beyond the scope of the statutory appeal right. The Supreme Court also considered whether the reconsideration decision of the administrative tribunal in this case (the License Appeal Tribunal) was unreasonable. The Tribunal had concluded that Ms. Yatar’s application was out of time. The Supreme Court held that this decision was unreasonable. It referred the matter back to the Tribunal adjudicator for reconsideration. 

McCarthy Tétrault represented the respondent TD Insurance Meloche Monnex with a team led by Christine Lonsdale that included Adam Goldenberg, Erin Chesney, Steven Marchand, and Foti Vito (Litigation).