Claims

How dashcams are settling insurance and liability questions

CALGARY – In a video taken through the windshield of Dung Le’s 15-year-old Toyota Echo, an oncoming car breaks the monotony of a wide, nearly empty street on a quiet August morning in a sprawling residential Edmonton neighbourhood. As it approaches, the car leaves its lane as though turning into a driveway, then straightens and […]

By Greg Meckbach | August 15, 2019

4 min read

Claims

Where spring showers have done much of the damage in 2019 1H

Payout amounts and the number of claims related to severe weather in Quebec have increased dramatically in the first half of the year compared to 2018, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) reported recently. Successive weather events marked the first half of 2019, pushing claims up significantly for P&C insurers, IBC said in a press release […]

By Jason Contant | August 14, 2019

2 min read

Claims

Simple ways to keep a roof on during a tornado

The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) and home building company Doug Tarry Homes Ltd. have joined forces for a pilot project on increasing the resilience of homes to high wind and tornado events. High winds contributed in part to most natural catastrophes recorded by the Insurance Bureau of Canada between 1983 and 2016, ICLR […]

By Jason Contant | August 13, 2019

2 min read

Claims

New hearing ordered after court finds tribunal erred in law on accident benefits

A vehicle accident victim is getting a new hearing after Saskatchewan’s appeal court found a tribunal erred in law by disregarding evidence related to the claimant’s accident-related inability to work. The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan unanimously ruled the July 2017 decision of the Automobile Injury Appeal Commission was “bereft of a substantive analysis of […]

By Jason Contant | August 12, 2019

3 min read

Top court releases decision in $2-billion building collapse lawsuit against Loblaws

A $2-billion lawsuit against Loblaws Companies Ltd., arising from the world’s deadliest accidental building collapse ever, is essentially tossed out of court. Canada’s high court announced Thursday it will not hear an appeal from Arati Rani Das, a garment factory worker who was seriously injured and whose mother was killed in the 2013 Rana Towers […]

By Greg Meckbach | August 8, 2019

4 min read

Hail, strong winds devastate Alberta communities

TABER, Alta. – Taber corn, that tasty sweet treat on the cob that Albertans look forward to in late summer, will be much harder to find this year after a major storm ripped through the province’s southern corn belt this week. Loonie and golf ball-size hailstones driven by a wind that reached more than 140 […]

By Jason Contant | August 8, 2019

2 min read

Intact buys restoration firm

Intact Financial Corporation has entered the restoration services area. The insurer has struck a deal to acquire Vancouver-based On Side Restoration. The company announced the acquisition late on Aug. 6, which it says will strengthen its ability to provide claims expertise and boost its supply chain network. On Side served as an Intact vendor. Etienne […]

By Adam Malik | August 7, 2019

2 min read

Why urban drivers may actually be better risks than rural drivers

Drivers in the heavily populated Greater Toronto Area are less likely to have a ticket, a collision or both on their record compared to those in more rural communities in Ontario. The counter-intuitive result came from a recent study by InsuranceHotline.com, which found that poorly-graded drivers emerged in more rural cities like Orangeville, Bradford and […]

By Adam Malik | August 2, 2019

3 min read

Why on-site adjuster supervision is needed

Citing a failure to ensure proper and adequate supervision of the firm’s employees at all times, the Insurance Council of Manitoba has fined the designated representative of a Manitoba ClaimsPro LP office $5,000, plus assessed investigation costs of $3,188. “Based on the information and evidence reviewed by council, council concluded that there was an apparent […]

3 min read