Insurance News - Saturday, February 28, 2015

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Saturday, February 28, 2015:

• The average auto insurance premium in Brampton is $2.393, the highest for Ontario cities, likely the highest in Canada.
• Lower gas prices will likely lead to more kilometers driven, more accidents and higher auto insurance rates.
• The U.K. is positioning itself to be the best jurisdictions for testing driverless cars with no geographic limits to test, no additional insurance requirements and no special licenses. Meanwhile Ontario has been taking over a year to decide what the rules should be.
• Old case but it show you how sophisticated staged accident rings can be. Peel police officer convicted of producing fake accident reports.
• It was only a matter of time, Geico is launching an insurance product for Uber and Lyft drivers in Virginia.
• Technology companies such as Google and Apple are unlikely to become mass car manufacturers, even if they have the potential to disrupt an industry increasingly focused on software and automated driving.

Claim Against Brokerage Employee Struck

A Statement of Claim that seeks relief against an insurance broker and its employee must adequately distinguish the allegations made against the employee from those made against the company.

In ACI Brands Inc. v. Aviva Insurance Co. of Canada, the plaintiff, ACI Brands Inc., alleged that it was sold inadequate insurance coverage by the defendants. The defendants were an insurance company (Aviva Insurance Company of Canada), an insurance broker (Jones Brown Inc.) and an employee of Jones Brown Inc. (Stephen Smith).

The plaintiff’s Statement of Claim did not outline Smith’s role other than to say that he was the Jones Brown Inc. employee who had secured insurance coverage for ACI. The Statement of Claim did not differentiate the allegations made against Smith from those made against Jones Brown Inc. (the allegations were made against “the Broker and/or Smith”).

Smith brought a motion to strike the plaintiff’s pleading under Rule 21.

The court cited the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in ScotiaMcLeod Inc. v. Peoples Jewellers Ltd., which stated that, in order to hold an employee personally liable for his or her conduct, the employee’s conduct must demonstrate that the employee acted with a “separate identity or interest from that of the company so as to make the act or conduct complained of their own”.

Given that the Statement of Claim failed to differentiate Smith’s conduct from that of Jones Brown Inc., and thus failed to demonstrate that separate identity or interest, the court struck the claim as against Smith for disclosing no reasonable prospect of success.

Proposed property policy endorsements address cosmetic damages

There's a good article about the proposed endorsements here. 

Broad Definition of the Term “Accident”

In the decision VanBerlo v. Aim Underwriting Ltd., 2014 ONSC 4648 (S.C.J.), the Ontario Superior Court recently considered the meaning of the term “accident”. The plaintiff crashed while attempting to take off in his twin-engine aircraft when he was aware that only one of the two engines was functioning. Although he had never done this before, it was the plaintiff’s belief that the aircraft was capable of taking off with only one engine. Additionally, he felt that it was able to safely make the six-minute flight to his destination. The plaintiff sought to recover the damages to the plane under his Aircraft Policy of Insurance. The insurer argued that this did not fall under the definition of an "accident" and the policy was not triggered.

The Court reviewed the existing case law and concluded that the term "accident" is "an unlooked for mishap or occurrence”. Applying this definition, the Court found that an accident can occur where the conduct of the insured constitutes negligence and even gross negligence. In this case, the court held:

“It cannot be said, on the facts, that the plaintiff realized the danger of his actions and deliberately assumed the risk; nor can it be said that the plaintiff’s conduct rose to a level of recklessness or culpability such that the occurrence was no longer an accident.”

The insurance was policy was required to pay the damages sought by the plaintiff.

Insurance News - Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Tuesday, February 17, 2015:

• The OPP report that high-risk driving and fatal collisions on the rise in Ontario.
• Recent news shows Google and Uber  might by aiming at driverless cabs.
• Uber wants to replace its drivers with robots. So much for that “new economy” it was building.
• IBC raises concerns about extent of Uber auto insurance coverage (do they have any?)
• Intact is preparing for major technology companies (e.g. Google) to shake up the way Canadians buy insurance.

New Director of OWCP

Leonard J. Howie, III, is the new director of OWCP replacing acting director Steinberg:

http://www.dol.gov/owcp/owcpdir.htm

FECA reform arises again, nothing here will benefit federal employees, just make an already harsh system worse...

And so it starts again. I would love to know what "federal managers" are actually pushing to eviscerate FECA benefits as opposed to private insurance companies taking a long view towards figuring out how to privatize and make money off of others' misfortune. As the Obama administration is on the record supporting the stripping of benefits from FECA, and with the changes in Congress in the last midterm elections, this could quickly gain traction. I will update as I learn more.

 

http://www.fedweek.com/federal-managers-daily-report/feca-proposals-repeated-2/

The federal workers compensation system administered by OWCP could certainly use some reform, but simply reducing the level of benefits and making it harder to receive benefits is not in the interest of federal employees, nor the unnamed "federal managers" who supposedly support this action, as opposed to private interests and their lobbying staffs who simply want to shrink the federal government any way possible.  

Insurance News - Monday, February 2, 2015

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Monday, February 2, 2015:

• One Ontario broker is suggesting that insurers are blaming everyone else and not taking responsibility for rising claim costs.
• Queen’s Park is looking at ways to curb speed limits in Ontario cities and towns, including lowering the standard from 50 km/h.
• At least 15 family members have to charged in California for being part of an auto insurance fraud ring. Must be the family business.
• California regulator approves filing from Metromile Insurance to provide insurance coverage to Uber drivers.
• Germany will use of a "digitized" stretch of Autobahn to develop domestic alternatives to Google cars.
• Considering human drivers like to speed, will we be satisfied with driverless cars that rigidly follow speed-limits?