Ontario’s auto market is quickly becoming the main crisis point for the insurance industry, as loss ratios, particularly in accident benefits, climb to unprofitable levels, warns Joel Baker, president and CEO of MSA Research Inc., in the latest MSA/Baron Outlook…
By taking the six digits of a postal code into consideration, rather than the first three digits, underwriters can determine risk levels of a particular area on a far greater detail, including whether or not a property is located in…
In a short, four-paragraph endorsement, the Ontario Court of Appeal recently dismissed an appeal in a seemingly run-of-the-mill fire insurance claim. Or was it a run-of-the-mill claim?The full text of the Ontario Superior Court’s original decision in Silva v. CGU…
A storm that hit Ontario at the beginning of January is estimated to have resulted in roughly Cdn$50 million in insured damage, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). The majority of the damage is due to sewer backup,…
The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) is encouraging the UK government “to appoint one single body with the authority to take responsibility for the risk of flooding,” as well as to co-ordinate discussions with various stakeholders to reduce the risk…
The Canadian insurance industry’s financial health will start to decline in 2008, and there may be “financial failures this year” if companies don’t rely on solid underwriting results to bail them out, warns Chubb Insurance Company of Canada CEO Ellen…
Ontario should learn from the experience in Vancouver, where installation of residential sprinkler systems contained roughly 90% of fires, and reduced average property damage to a fraction of the average fire loss per unsprinkled incident (Cdn$1,065 from Cdn$13,937), Toronto fire…
The Ontario Superior Court has denied an appeal by a defendant in a class action liability case that essentially allowed a trial lawyer to switch representative plaintiffs in mid-stream.The decision raised the issue of whether defence lawyers were, as a…
Rod Hancock has officially assumed his new role as president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO). After a career as a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Hancock launched a career in the insurance brokerage business…
Property and casualty insurers in the United States are expected to pay US$6.5 billion to homeowners and business for property losses from 23 catastrophes in 2007, according to preliminary analysis by ISO’s property claim services (PCS) unit. This is the…
An Ontario Superior Court justice has slashed a plaintiff’s claim for Cdn$4 million in damages and lost wages related to an accident at an Ottawa Home Depot down to Cdn$518,132.“It is clear that the plaintiff was injured in the accident…
Ken Cheveldayoff, minister of crown corporations, has proclaimed Jan. 13 to Jan. 19 Snowmobile Safety Week in Saskatchewan. “Snowmobiling is one of the province’s most popular activities,” Cheveldayoff said in a press release. “Unfortunately, unsafe snowmobiling can result in serious…