The Superior Court has recently had the opportunity to revisit
an issue that has not been addressed by the courts in twenty years:
whether the Family Law Act definition of
"spouse" applies to the Insurance Act definition
of "spouse". For ease of reference, both statutes
in part define a spouse as being someone "who has lived
together in a conjugal relationship, whether inside or outside
marriage" with the other person for a requisite period of
time. Under the Insurance Act, the requisite period
of time is three years.
In Royal and Sun Alliance Company of Canada v.
Desjardins/Certas, 2018 ONSC 4284 (CanLII), Justice E.M.
Morgan, was tasked with judicially reviewing the private
arbitration decision of Shari Novick, which found that RSA was the
priority insurer for an accident benefits claim involving the
claimant, Ms. Halliday, following her involvement in a motor
vehicle accident that occurred in March 2014. Arbitrator
Novick found that Ms. Halliday was the
