Why strong housing markets have builders tweaking their insurance
September 14, 2023 Philip PoradoBooming real estate markets in many Canadian cities have top-tier developers considering building sites they might previously have written off. “Here in Toronto, we know the city was heavily industrialized with old manufacturers that were there 100 years before going…
Three charges laid for 2019 spill from Newfoundland’s Hibernia offshore oil platform
July 6, 2022 The Canadian PressST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil regulator is laying charges in connection with a 2019 oil spill in the Hibernia field, which sits about 315 kilometres off the coast of St. John’s. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore…
Why your client now needs environmental insurance
July 4, 2022 by Jason ContantClimate change is resulting in larger and non-traditional pollution losses, necessitating the need for environmental insurance to cover possible coverage gaps left by other policies, an environmental insurance expert said recently. Stronger storms coupled with increased land development can lead…
Why pollution liability brokers should pay attention to this auditor general report
December 9, 2021 by Greg MeckbachThe Ontario government should re-visit a rule that leaves polluters off the hook for hazardous spills that cost less than $10,000 to clean up, the province’s auditor general suggests. In 2016, the Ontario environment ministry [now called the Ministry of…
In pollution claim, ‘sudden’ could mean several months, court finds
June 8, 2021 by Greg MeckbachInsurance 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…
Pollution coverage gaps your clients may not know about
May 21, 2021 by Greg MeckbachThe cost of cleaning up after spills of petroleum, oil, or other contaminants may not be covered under your client’s liability or property policy, a managing general agent warns. Many clients are exposed to pollution risk but are not necessarily…
How liability insurance responds (or not) to COVID-19
March 16, 2020 by Greg MeckbachIf your clients are sued as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, don’t assume they will be covered by a commercial general liability policy. General liability policies have exclusions; and for COVID-19, the most relevant exclusion is probably pollution, suggested…
How not to handle a lawsuit alleging historical environmental contamination
March 9, 2020 by Greg MeckbachBrokers wanting to advise commercial clients on pollution liability risk might learn a lesson or two from London Transit Commission v. Eaton Industries (Canada) Company, released this past Friday by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. London, Ontario’s city bus…
Pollution exclusion means no coverage for this dry cleaner defendant
January 16, 2020 by Greg MeckbachA British Columbia court ruling in favour of Intact Insurance Company and Economical Mutual Insurance Company is now final. A Vancouver-based dry cleaners that wanted to make a pollution-related claim with the two insurers, under commercial general liability policies, cannot…
Could CGL policy have to cover this dry cleaning pollution claim?
December 17, 2019 by Greg MeckbachA coverage dispute over pollution exclusions might bring two of Canada’s largest insurers before the Supreme Court of Canada. West Van Lions Gate Cleaners Ltd. has operated a dry cleaners in Vancouver since 1976. Until 1999 an automotive repair business…
Who’s liable for what in this $2.2-million fuel oil spill
November 18, 2019 by Greg MeckbachAnother 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…
$107-million Saskatchewan oil leak results in guilty plea
June 12, 2019 Colette Derworiz - THE CANADIAN PRESSLLOYDMINSTER, Sask. – Husky Energy has pleaded guilty in a pipeline leak that sent oil spilling into a major river and fouled the source of drinking water for thousands of people. The spill into the North Saskatchewan River in July…