An eastern Ontario municipality does not have coverage with any of its four former liability insurers for a dispute with the provincial environment ministry over alleged pollution occurring more than six decades ago. That’s because the insurance policies in question…

Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry reported a much sunnier financial picture in 2021 Q1 than it did during the same time last year, according to a recent quarterly report by the Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corporation (PACICC). Financial…

The Court of Appeal for British Columbia has doubled a tort award, for loss of future earning capacity, for a motor vehicle accident victim who had suffered several concussions before he badly injured his head in a rear-end collision. On…

A nationwide estimate of coastal, pluvial, and fluvial flood hazard is one part of the ongoing effort to come up with a national approach to insuring or re-locating homes at high risk of flood, a federal government official suggests. Flood…

A home under renovation doesn’t mean it is “under construction,” Ontario’s Appeal Court has ruled, rejecting an insurer’s interpretation of its home insurance policy exclusion. In Tataryn v. Axa Insurance Canada (now Intact Insurance), Susan Tataryn’s Ottawa property served as…

A recent flood damage claim in B.C. speaks to the importance of getting in writing from clients exactly what restoration services have been authorized for payment, be it a repair or a full investigation into the cause of the water…

It’s an auto insurance estimator’s Catch-22. A B.C. small claims tribunal recently downplayed expert evidence based on photos taken in an auto collision shop because the estimator didn’t conduct an in-person inspection of the vehicle — even though pandemic lockdown…

Six possible flood insurance models for homes at high risk of flood are about to go through an actuarial review, a federal government official suggests. The Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation is going to hand off those possible…

Data analysis may be held up as the gold standard for making sound business decisions. But a recent study suggests gut instinct — when backed up by simple decision aids — may actually be better in situations of high uncertainty.…

Insurance coverage for a “sudden and accidental” release of diesel fuel can include a discharge that continued over several months, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has ruled in a commercial coverage dispute. As a result of Zurich Insurance Company…

A B.C. homeowner who is listed along with a second person on his home insurance policy has lost his bid to have Intact issue him a payment directly for his own personal items damaged in a flood, instead of issuing…

More than a dozen coverage disputes arising from business interruption from lockdowns and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic are making their way through Ontario courts. Law firm McCarthy Tetrault has served 17 individual statements of claim with the Ontario Superior…