Insurer pays $100,000 punitive damages for alleging fraud.
On June 22, 2012, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded $100,000 in punitive damages against an insurer for alleging fraud against its insured in respect of a fire loss in circumstances which the Court described as a “high-stakes litigation strategy”. Brandiferri v. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. involved a fire loss at the insureds’ home. The garage and its contents were destroyed and smoke penetrated the house. In one action the insureds claimed that Strone Construction was liable for the deficient remedial work and in another action the insureds claimed that their...
read moreDeath benefits denied due to substance abuse.
On April 26, 2012, the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench dismissed an application by a widow for an order that a group creditor insurer pay her pursuant to a policy of insurance following her husband’s death. In Laird v. First Canadian Insurance Corp., the applicant, Mrs. Laird, and her husband, Mr. Laird, purchased group credit insurance when they purchased a new vehicle. On the application for insurance Mr. Laird answered “yes” to a question about whether he suffered from “any illness/disorder of the heart, brain, lungs, kidney, liver, or pancreas (diabetes).” No follow-up medical...
read more$573,000 punitive damages for BC employee.
In early 2012, a jury in Prince George, B.C. awarded a plaintiff approximately $809,000 in damages over a wrongful dismissal. Included in that amount is the largest punitive damages award in an employment law case in Canadian history. Larry Higginson worked at a sawmill in Burns Lake, B.C., for 34 years until October 2009, when he was fired without severance pay. Hampton Lumber Mills Inc., based in Portland, Ore., had acquired the sawmill from Babine Forest Products Inc. in November 2006. Higginson sued for wrongful dismissal, claiming he was terminated as an attempt to avoid paying...
read moreCommunication with ICBC does NOT extend limitation period.
On March 29, 2012, the defendants in a personal injury action arising out of a motor vehicle accident obtained a summary dismissal of the plaintiff’s action on basis that it was barred by the expiration of the two year limitation period. In Field v. Harvey, 2012 BCSC 456, a judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court found that correspondence from ICBC did not postpone the running of time. On August 22, 2008, the plaintiff suffered injuries when her vehicle was in a collision with a cement truck owned by one of the defendants and operated by the other defendant. She alleged that the...
read more$75,000 punitive damages for coverage denial.
In McDonald v. ICBC, 2012 BCSC 283, the plaintiff was involved in a 2007 collision. She was at fault for the crash. She consumed two to three glasses of wine prior to operating a vehicle. As she was driving she “turned the wrong way into an oncoming van” causing a collision and injuries to the other motorist. The plaintiff was issued a 24 hour roadside suspension and charged criminally with dangerous driving and alcohol related offences. Eventually the criminal charges were dropped and the plaintiff plead guilty to careless driving pursuant to section 144 of BC’s Motor Vehicle Act. The...
read more
