Green v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada

**What Happened** An employee named Green sued Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada over a denied insurance claim. The dispute centered on whether Sun Life had the right to make final decisions about benefit claims under their insurance policy, or whether courts could fully review those decisions. Sun Life wanted the court to give them broad authority to deny claims, arguing that judges should only overturn their decisions in extreme cases of wrongdoing. **What the Court Decided** The court rejected Sun Life's request for limited court review. The judge ruled that the insurance policy language was unclear about giving Sun Life complete decision-making power. Because the policy didn't clearly grant this authority, courts can fully review benefit denials rather than just checking for obvious abuse of power. The case was sent back to a lower court for further proceedings. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling protects workers by ensuring stronger court oversight of insurance claim denials. When insurance companies deny benefits, employees now have a better chance of getting meaningful court review of those decisions. Courts won't just rubber-stamp insurance company denials—they'll examine the facts themselves and make independent judgments about whether benefits should be paid.