Medical Marijuana Loses its Appeal – The Skinny on Skinner Part 1
In earlier blogs, we have discussed the curious case of Wayne Skinner and his quest for medical marijuana funding under his union’s insurance plan. As you may recall, Mr. Skinner had been injured in an automobile accident in the course...
The Not so Reasonable Cost of Medical Documents
One of the biggest pet peeves I have working in this industry is receiving, in my opinion, ludicrous requests from practitioners relating to the cost of obtaining medical records in their custody. For example, just the other day I received a...
Other Automobile Insurance Policies May Respond Before Umbrella Policies
The Ontario Court of Appeal has recently determined the priority of insurance policies when insurers structure their policies to include low limits on a primary policy and larger limits on an umbrella liability policy. In Benson v. Walt,[1] Paul Robert...
Lack of Consent = No SEF No. 44 Coverage
In the recent case of Cardinal v. Alberta Motor Association Insurance Company, 2018 ABCA 69 (CanLII), the Alberta Court of Appeal overruled the lower court, determining that an injured passenger was not covered under an SEF No. 44 Family Protection...
Threshold Motion Dismissed in “Thin Skull” Case
The plaintiff, aged 54, was involved in a motor vehicle accident as a passenger. The vehicle was rear-ended and the collision was of moderate impact. The plaintiff’s back and neck pain evolved into chronic pain. The plaintiff had a pre-accident...
New Developments in Adverse Cost Insurance
Many insurers and defence counsel are now aware of the growing use of adverse cost insurance, also known as “after-the-event” insurance (“ATE insurance”), in personal injury litigation. This insurance is typically a policy purchased by a plaintiff in a lawsuit...
Ontario Acts on Marshall Report with New Changes to Auto Insurance
The Ontario government announced its latest round of changes to automobile insurance, called the Fair Auto Insurance Plan. This follows on the heels of the report by David Marshall, Ontario’s advisor on auto insurance, who released a report in April...
Active/Passive Income not an IRB Consideration
In the recent LAT decision of A.S. and Economical Insurance (16-003197/AABS), Adjudicator Robert Watt held that an insurer is entitled to deduct post-accident income from a claimant’s business in determining an Income Replacement Benefit amount under the Statutory Accident Benefits...
The LAT CAT’s First Life
The LAT CAT is now out of the bag with the recent release of one of the Licence Appeal Tribunal’s most comprehensive CAT decisions in A.R. v. Allstate (Tribunal File No. 16-003415, January 5, 2018). The 31 page decision was...
2017: A Year in Review and a Look Ahead
As 2017 comes to a close, it is a good time to take a look back at changes and developments in the law that will affect how adjusters handle claims going forward. In one of the year’s most anticipated decision,...
