05/26/2026
On May 15, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada created the tort of intimate partner violence as a distinct legal basis for survivors to seek financial compensation separate from family law entitlements and other torts like sexual assault and battery.
This landmark decision in the case of Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia establishes a new legal pathway for individuals to sue for patterns of coercive and long-term abuse that existing civil claims, like assault or battery, may fail to adequately address.
To succeed in a claim under this new tort, a plaintiff must typically demonstrate a pattern of behavior within an intimate partnership and prove three elements:
1. The abusive conduct arose in an intimate partnership or its aftermath;
2.The defendant intentionally engaged in that conduct; and
3. That the conduct, on an objective measure, constitutes coercive control.
Check out the blog post at the link below to read what KSW Lawyer Jaime Sarophim and the KSW Lawyers' Family Law Department had to say about this new development.
🔗https://pulse.ly/tehr23d2sf
