Lahay v. Henderson arose out of an MVA which left the plaintiff with soft tissue injuries, principally to his back. Liability was admitted. The trial judge ruled that the plaintiff, a manual labourer before the accident, would never be able…
The “discoverability” principle does not permit a limitation period to be extended where a plaintiff delays suing because she does not, at first, realize the seriousness of her injury. This is what the Divisional Court ruled in Smith v. Toronto.In…
Two decisions of importance to the personal injury bar and the insurance industry were released by the Court of Appeal this afternoon. They are Vollick v. Sheard and Walker v. Ritchie. Both cases involved the issue of whether an owner…
In Mazur v. Elias, the Court of Appeal has endorsed the notion of “co-ownership” of automobiles. The case involves the often-seen fact pattern of a car being purchased by one person but licensed and insured in the name of another….
We are happy to report that The Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory for 2005 lists Steve Cavanagh as a “Leading Practitioner” in “Civil Litigation—Commercial Insurance”, one of only five lawyers in eastern Ontario to be so recognized. Congratulations also to the…
In finding that an insurer has a duty to defend a sexual abuse claim, a Superior Court judge took the unusual extra step of allocating defence costs: 20% payable by the insurer and the 80% by the insured. The case…
Regular readers of our Updates know that just when insurance defence lawyers and their clients were beginning to despair of ever winning a threshold motion, a series of decisions were handed down that favoured the defence. But a Superior Court…
In the space of a week, two appellate decisions have dealt with relief from forfeiture. First, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its ruling in Marche v. Halifax Insurance (about which we sent an Update last week). Today, the Court…
The Ontario Superior Court has ruled that TD General Insurance Company owes a duty to defend a liability claim arising out of a snowmobile accident, despite the company’s contention that it did not insure the owner of the snowmobile.
The Court of Appeal has just released an important decision that will be of interest to those handling MVA claims. In Igbokwe v. Price, the court ruled that the trial judge’s finding, that the plaintiff’s injuries met the Insurance Act…