The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) last week in Yatar v. TD Insurance Meloche Monnex (Yatar) clarified the right to seek judicial review of administrative decisions in tandem with pursuing statutory rights of appeal. The SCC also affirmed its earlier decision in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov (Vavilov), which held that a right of appeal does not preclude an individual from seeking judicial review for questions not dealt with in the appeal. In Yatar, the SCC held that, where there is a statutory right of appeal limited to questions of law, judicial review is available for questions of fact or mixed fact and law. In so doing, the SCC clarified that parallel statutory appeals and applications for judicial review are permissible. This bulletin briefly summarizes the background of the case and important aspects and implications of the SCC’s decision. Background. The appellant (Yatar) was injured in a car accident and denied insurance benefits. Following mediation, Yatar contested the denial of insurance benefits, but the Ontario Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) dismissed her application as being time-barred. Yatar’s right of appeal from the LAT decision was restricted solely to questions of law pursuant to the Licence Appeal Tribunal Act, 1999. Yatar consequently pursued an appeal on questions of law, and simultaneously sought judicial review on questions of fact or mixed fact and law. The Divisional Court dismissed Yatar’s appeal as well as her application for judicial review. The Ontario Court of Appeal agreed with the decision of the Divisional Court, holding that it would only be in “rare cases” that the remedy of judicial review would be exercised, given the available statutory scheme for the resolution of such disputes. Decision. In a unanimous decision, the SCC held that it was an error for the courts below to find that,…
