The recent judgment of Superior Court Justice Ruth Mesbur in Moore v. Wienecke reads more like a law school problem than a real-life set of facts. The plaintiff was involved in motor vehicle accidents in 1998 and 2002, which were the claims…
This month, the Court of Appeal has released two decisions dealing with an insurer’s “duty to defend”.Kohanski v. St. Paul The first is Kohanski v. St. Paul Guarantee Insurance Company. The issue in the case was whether a duty to…
We’ve gotten a bit behind over the holiday season, but over the next few days, we’ll get caught up on some interesting new decisions that have been handed down this month. We’re also in the process of re-designing our Updates;…
Justice Denis Power of the Ontario Superior Court has released a significant ruling on the issue of allocation of defence costs. The case is Hanis v. The University of Western Ontario et al.; Guardian Insurance et al., third parties. As…
After a series of recent Bill 59 “threshold” decisions that have favoured insurers (most recently Page v. Primeau, which was the subject of a previous Update), a Superior Court judge has decided a threshold motion in favour of the plaintiff. In Sasso…
A Superior Court decision released this afternoon deals with a recurring problem in the field of liability insurance: where the total claims greatly exceed the policy limits, can one claimant settle and obtain payment of the entire amount of his or…
In McLean v. Jorgenson, released this afternoon, the Ontario Court of Appeal addressed the often-litigated issue of an insurer’s duty to defend. Its decision contained some interesting elements that are likely to have significance in future cases, particularly those involving…
An Ontario Superior Court judge has found a plaintiff one third contributorily negligent for failing to observe the curb on which she tripped and fell, even though it was in plain sight. In Henhawk v. Brantford (City), Justice David S….
In Transportaction Lease Systems Inc. v. Guarantee Co. of North America, decided earlier this week, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that cancellation of auto insurance by a lessee was ineffective to terminate the coverage of the lessor. Accordingly, when…
In Bach v. McKellar, released this afternoon, Master Robert Beaudoin dealt with a situation that arises frequently in insurance litigation. The claim arose out of a motor vehicle accident. The original pleading, issued within the two-year limitation period, claimed damages…