The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a lower decision that found an insurer owed a duty to defend an insured in a sexual assault claim, under a commercial general liability policy. The Claim In Southside Muay Thai Academy Corp.…
The Ontario government announced last Friday that it was suspending limitation periods while the province was under a state of emergency because of COVID-19. This will have a major impact on loss transfer and priority disputes. Loss Transfer Limitation Periods…
In our first article in the Priority Dispute Series, I provided an overview of Ontario’s accident benefit priority dispute scheme and the process necessary to pursue and dispute priority. To recap: The priority pecking order is found in subsections 268 (2) to…
It’s a Friday afternoon before a long weekend, of course, and you’ve just received a potential SABS priority dispute. A new Application for Accident Benefits arrives on your desk and the claimant alleges that she was in your insured’s vehicle…
What happens when an auto insurer sends a policy termination notice to the named insured, but the named insured does not own the vehicle insured under the policy? In Ontario (Minister of Finance) v. Traders General Insurance Co. (c.o.b. Aviva Traders),…
What happens when a Certificate of Automobile Insurance specifies that the policy includes coverages under certain endorsements, when those endorsements never make it onto the policy? The Certificate and OPCF Endorsements Ontario’s standard automobile policy (OAP1) offers a number of…
Does Uber’s fleet policy with Intact provide primary accident benefits coverage to passengers who do not have their own auto insurance policies? The first arbitration decision on this issue says “yes”. Background In July 2016, FSCO approved a new standard…
Is a school bus company making a bus available for an employee driver’s regular use “at the time of the accident”, if she is not allowed to use the bus at the time of an accident? In TD Insurance v. Dominion,…
The Ontario Divisional Court has ruled that Ontario laws cannot be used to determine whether a specific vehicle needs to be insured, when an incident happens outside Ontario. Why is this Important? Automobile insurance is meant to insure automobiles and…
As Ontario’s auto insurance industry was waiting anxiously, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released an interesting decision on priority dispute notices to claimants. In Dominion v. Unifund, an accident benefits claimant was not notified of the priority dispute between…
The Court of Appeal for Ontario has held that a Minnesota tortfeasor with only $500,000 liability limits is an “inadequately insured motorist” under the Family Protection Endorsement (OPCF 44R) in Ontario, where the 44R limits are $1 million. In Hartley v.…
The License Appeal Tribunal has held that a person who tripped over stone blocks and fell into a parked Honda vehicle was involved in an “accident”, making him entitled to receive accident benefit under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. In…
When is a flood a flood? In Parker Pad & Printing Ltd. v. Gore Mutual Insurance Company, the plaintiff’s premises in Haliburton, Ontario were flooded during a severe rainfall. The rainfall resulted in large pools of water collecting outside of…
The Ontario Court of Appeal has released an interesting (from an insurance perspective) decision on whether an insurer’s failure to use a prescribed form invalidates an otherwise proper agreement between an insurer and insured. In Royal & Sun Alliance v.…