A central pillar of the B.C. government’s auto insurance reform — that the province’s Civil Rules Tribunal (CRT) has exclusive jurisdiction to determine minor injuries below $50,000, and not the courts — has been found constitutional by the B.C. Appeal…
An Ontario court has refused a plaintiff’s request to tell a jury about the statutory deductible, of nearly $40,000 for pain and suffering, in motor vehicle accident tort claims. “The jury is not asked to determine how much the plaintiff…
A British Columbia judge has awarded $1.26 million, in future care costs, to a plaintiff who was hit by a car in 2015. In Pevach v. McGuigan Estate, released Aug. 3, Justice Gordon Funt of the Supreme Court of British Columbia…
The Court of Appeal for Ontario recently ruled in favour of Northbridge Insurance in an auto liability claim that featured a dispute over how much of the plaintiff’s accident benefits should go to the liability insurer. Kossay El-Khodr was rear-ended…
A proposed class-action lawsuit based on the novel tort of “premature commercialization” is going ahead in Ontario. The Supreme Court of Canada announced Dec. 10 it will not hear an appeal from Syngenta Canada Inc., which is facing a proposed…
The average British Columbia consumer does not really understand what rights they will lose with the auto insurance reforms scheduled to take effect this May, a Vancouver personal injury lawyer warns. Provincial politicians voted earlier this year to pass Bill…
An Ontario court has ruled that accident benefits should be deducted from tort damages using a “silo” approach rather than a strict matching (“apples-to-apples”) approach. In a lengthy and complex decision covering a wide variety of legal points, the Court…
The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected an argument by Insurance Bureau of Canada that a court should not award damages for psychological or emotional damage unless the plaintiff demonstrates the tort caused a “recognizable psychiatric illness.” In a recent…
The impending legalization of marijuana in Canada raises a number of legal issues related to property insurance policies, Michael Teitelbaum, a partner with Hughes Amys LLP, said last week at ARC Group Canada’s 2017 annual seminar and cocktail event. In…
Saskatchewan has a new law allowing for the sale of up to 49% of crown corporations, but the provincial government will continue to have a monopoly on compulsory auto insurance, a spokesperson for Saskatchewan Government Insurance told Canadian Underwriter Friday.…
A report released two weeks ago is “probably the best description we have to date of what is wrong” with Ontario’s auto insurance system, the chief executive officer of Insurance Bureau of Canada said Tuesday. In opening remarks at IBC’s…
An exclusion in an auto insurance policy for loss or damage caused by “conversion,” by someone in lawful possession of a vehicle does not apply to a truck tractor badly damaged by fire, a Supreme Court of British Columbia judge…