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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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
read moreClaims administrator may owe a duty of good faith.
The New Brunswick Court of Queen’s bench held that where an insurer acts as a claims administration service only but makes decisions regarding the adjudication of claims, computation and issuance of benefits it owes a duty to the insured to act in good faith as it was adjudicating claims and benefits. As such, the traditional tort of intentional procurement of breach of contract is broad enough to capture bad faith actions by an adjuster that bring about the rejection of a meritorious claim for insurance benefits. In LeBlanc v. Atlantic...
read moreLTD claim reviewing MAY extend a limitation period.
An application by a long term disability insurer to dismiss a claim commenced by an insured on the basis that the claim was barred by the expiration of the limitation period. The application was dismissed and costs awarded to the plaintiff. In White v. Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (c.o.b. Manulife), [2011] B.C.J. No. 2273, the plaintiff was insured for a long term disability benefits under a group policy issued by the defendant, Manulife Insurance. The plaintiff submitted an application for disability benefits on September 13, 2006. On...
read more$550,000 punitive damages for Ontario employee.
An Ontario court came down hard on an employer that attempted to terminate an employee for cause without sufficient justification for doing so. The termination and the employer’s actions related to the termination resulted in a criminal trial and a chain of events that led to the destruction of the employee’s reputation, and, accordingly to the employee, his marriage. The trial judge initially awarded the employee $25,000 in punitive damages and aggravated damages of $75,000. The employee appealed the punitive damages award and a...
read more$50,000 punitive damages for refusing to pay a fire loss.
On August 17, 2011, the insureds successfully sued their insurer in the British Columbia Supreme Court for losses suffered in a fire, as well as aggravated and punitive damages for the insurer’s refusal to pay, in Sidhu v. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. In the early hours of February 7, 2005, the Sidhu’s family home was damaged by a fire. The plaintiff, Hardip Sidhu, was in the master bedroom with his wife and infant son before the fire started. He asked them to leave shortly before he heard something hit the bedroom window. He got...
read moreManulife loses “want of prosecution” application.
On May 30, 2011, the BC Supreme Court decided that Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (“Manulife”), successor to the Aetna Life Insurance Co. of Canada (“Aetna”) was unsuccessful in its application for an order dismissing an applicant’s action for want of prosecution. The decision is reported at: Toor v Aetna Life Ins. Co., 2011 BCSC 691. In 1975 the applicant, Harbans Toor purchased a policy of long-term disability insurance from Excelsior Life and the policy was eventually acquired by Manulife. In the action, Mr. Toor...
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