Torys represented Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada with a team that included Trisha Jackson, John Terry, Amanda Kemshaw, Jennifer Orange, Sandeep Joshi, David Outerbridge, Melissa Schiestel, Sara Missaghie and Justin Necpal.
On November 21, 2007, Torys was successful in defending Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada in two test cases arising from a proposed class proceeding. The case followed two decisions of the courts of appeal of Saskatchewan and Alberta, which held that long-term disability benefits could not be reduced by Canada Pension Plan benefits arising from the same disability paid to the claimants' children. These results led to the commencement of this proposed national class proceeding in Ontario (and comparable proceedings against other insurers) seeking to disallow the deduction of such benefits in all of Sun Life's long-term disability policies.
The cases were tried before Justice Perrell in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, who found that the policy language in both cases permitted the deduction and that the claim of one plaintiff was statute barred. In doing so, he concluded that the limitation period was one year from the time the dispute crystallized under the Insurance Act.