Ontario Superior Court dismisses claim that insurer’s investigation constituted abuse of process and conspiracy

The Ontario Superior Court ruled that a plaintiff’s claim that an insurer’s investigation constituted abuse of process and conspiracy was scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.
In Pontillo v. Zinger et. Al., Antoinetta Pontillo was involved in a car accident with Todd Schaefer in 2003. Pontillo sued Schaefer for damages resulting from the accident. Dominion of Canada Insurance, Schaefer’s insurer, hired Garda World Security Corporation to conduct a private investigation in defence of the claim.
Pontillo filed a claim against Dominion, Garda and Schaefer, alleging abuse of process and conspiracy. The defendants moved to strike the claim on the grounds that it discloses no cause of action, and that it is scandalous, frivolous and vexatious, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ramsay wrote.
The statement of claim, save for one alleged wrongdoing, is essentially filled with bald assertions, Justice Ramsay said.
The alleged wrongdoing that was laid out with some degree of particularity involved the investigator making himself known to the plaintiff by first approaching her neighbour, who immediately went next door and told Pontillo that she was being investigated.
“Insurance companies are entitled to conduct surveillance of plaintiffs if they do so within the confines of the law,” Ramsay said.
“The fact that a private investigator is conducting an investigation is not defamatory. Anyone who is involved in a car accident or a divorce might be investigated by a private investigator.”
Ramsay went on to say that insurance companies do not need grounds to believe that the plaintiff is making a fraudulent claim before they conduct an investigation.
“They can identify themselves to the neighbours, and ask them for information about the case. Stripped of bald assertions and fanciful conclusions, the statement of claim alleges no wrongful acts and nothing from which improper motivation could be inferred,” Justice Ramsay wrote.
“In the result, the entire statement of claim is struck out without leave to amend.”