'Lola' appeals alimony denial

The lawyer for the woman known as "Lola" said her client is appealing the court ruling thatdenied her alimony payments.

In July, Lola lost her constitutional challenge in Quebec Superior Courtto try to get unmarried couples treated the same as married couples when their relationships end.She plans to appeal the verdict in Quebec's Court of Appeal, her lawyer said Monday.

The unmarried woman, who can't be named to protect the identity of her children, had been seeking more than $50 million from the Quebec business tycoon she lived with for seven years but never married. The couple has three children together.

Lola's lawyer, Anne-France Goldwater, said Quebec is the only province that doesn't recognize common-law unions and she said that must change.

"Married couples at least have the protection of the law the laws all say a man and a woman are equal in marriage. There's no law that says a man and a woman are equal in a common-law union," Goldwater said.

"What we're looking for before the courts is just the right to ask for the protection of the law," said Goldwater, adding that her client's case is of great social importance to the women and children of Quebec, few of whom have the financial wherewithal to launch a case like Lola's.

"Society has evolved way past where the laws stand," Goldwater said. "The laws still stay steeped in the moral judgments of a century ago."