Canadian Underwriter

Topic
Engineering


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What underwriters can learn from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

February 6, 2020 by Greg Meckbach

Hail is a major driver of insured property damage in Canada, but testing resilience of roofing material by dropping steel balls on it has limited value, a CatIQ Connect speaker suggested Wednesday. Roy Wright, president and CEO of the Insurance

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How this buried oil tank came back to haunt former homeowners

January 17, 2020 by Greg Meckbach

If your clients are selling their home, should you ask whether prospective buyers want written assurance that any oil tanks are removed and the soil cleaned up? Scott Warren and Antonia Camille Fantillo sold their home in early 2016. They

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Commercial clients should do this before they leave for the day

January 16, 2020 by Greg Meckbach

Are your clients checking the bathrooms before they leave work for the day? “The last thing you want is to leave someone with access to your property after the doors have been locked,” Northbridge Insurance noted in Closing time: Making

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Why this town is not liable for electric shock hazard at sports field

January 8, 2020 by Greg Meckbach

An Ontario municipality was recently found not liable for an electrical hazard created when a light pole at a sports field was struck by lightning, allowing the light to continue functioning while letting current leak into the ground near the

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Unfinished business

January 5, 2020 By Kevin Shipley, Partner, XCG Consulting Limited

Why a winter construction fire should give underwriters pause before covering the risk of unfinished buildings

News ClaimsEngineeringLegal

Why Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Lloyd’s

December 2, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

A $5.6-million court award in favour of Lloyds Underwriters and one of its Quebec-based shipowner clients has been restored by the Supreme Court of Canada. Desgagnés Transport Inc. v. Wärtsilä Canada Inc., released Nov. 28, means a section of the

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Who’s liable for what in this $2.2-million fuel oil spill

November 18, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Another chapter in the sad story of a $2.2-million residential heating fuel oil spill, into a fresh-water lake, has been closed. The Supreme Court of Canada announced this past Thursday it will not hear an appeal from Thompson Fuels of

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How change of backyard elevation spawns liability risk

November 12, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

A London, Ont. homeowner is in legal trouble because the water that was supposed to flow east from his neighbour’s backyard, across his property, started going the wrong way 12 years ago. In Dankiewicz v. Sullivan, released Nov. 4, Justice

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Why this commercial food spoilage claim from ice storm was denied

November 4, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

If your client has coverage for business interruption and spoiled perishable food inventory, does that still kick in if the loss was caused by damage to power transmission lines off the client’s property? For a Toronto bakery, the answer is

News CatastrophesClaims CanadaEngineering

Final pieces of storm toppled crane removed off top of Halifax building

October 28, 2019 THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX – The final pieces of a crane that collapsed onto a building in Halifax last month, during post-tropical storm Dorian, have been removed. A government release says the pieces that were lying on the top storey of the Olympus

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What surprised forensic engineers about massive Toronto propane explosions

October 24, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

After the deadly Sunrise Propane explosions caused a massive evacuation in north Toronto, the central focus of regulators came as a surprise to some engineers who investigate such disasters. Pumping propane from one truck to another was identified as a

News Engineering

If cannabis dies, how expensive could the claim get?

October 8, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

If a hydroponics system fails and it’s tomatoes or peppers that are spoiled, that’s one thing. But what happens if it’s a legal cannabis facility? “The impact of cannabis on the [property and casualty] industry remains to be seen. We