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…
Military help in Pikangikum First Nation being ‘drawn down’ as wildfire slows
June 5, 2019 THE CANADIAN PRESSPIKANGIKUM, Ont. – The Canadian Armed Forces says military help is being “drawn down” in a remote northwestern Ontario First Nation as a wildfire that triggered the evacuation of vulnerable residents slows its spread. Second Lt. Christopher Dube says in…
This little piggie caused a $24-million subrogated claim
April 16, 2019 by Greg MeckbachA $24.3-million lawsuit by an oil and gas company against a contractor over an accident that spilled 60 cubic metres of oil is one of Canada’s largest-ever subrogated claims, a lawyer for the plaintiff says. In ISH Energy Ltd v…
How this dry cleaner got sued over 50-year-old pollution
April 11, 2019 by Greg MeckbachAn Ottawa dry cleaner is liable for nearly $2 million in environmental clean-up costs resulting from spills that occurred at least 45 years ago, as a result of a Supreme Court of Canada ruling released Thursday. The top court’s ruling…
How Intact and Economical won this pollution coverage dispute
April 10, 2019 by Greg MeckbachA court ruling against Economical and Intact over pollution exclusions in commercial general liability policies has been reversed. As a result, the insurers do not have to defend a Vancouver area dry cleaner against a lawsuit filed by its neighbours…
This Supreme Court ruling could drive environmental insurance sales
March 19, 2019 by Greg MeckbachBrokers could see more demand for environmental liability insurance because of a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling in favour of the Alberta Energy Regulator, a Toronto underwriter suggests. In Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., the Supreme Court…
Why CBI insurance is on the rise in Canada
January 16, 2019 by Jason ContantContingent business interruption (CBI) insurance is on the rise in Canada, with an increase in both demand and higher limits, says the CEO and chief agent for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) Canada. “This is one of the most…