Claims

What’s New: In Brief (October 09, 2009)

Insured loss estimates for onshore properties in Japan as a result of Typhoon Melor range from US$850 million to US$1.5 billion, according to AIR Worldwide.On Oct. 8, 2009 Super Typhoon Melor made landfall in central Japan’s Aichi prefecture (population 7 million) as a weak Category 1 storm with sustained winds of about 119 km-h.Melor’s winds […]

By Canadian Underwriter | October 9, 2009

1 min read

Capture Facebook evidence early, defence counsel cautioned

Insurance defence counsel should tread carefully when it comes to preserving evidence obtained on social networking sites such as Facebook.Speaking at the Canadian Defence Lawyers’ 2nd annual Accident Benefits Experts Seminar in Toronto, panelist Jennifer Malchuk of Hughes Amys LLP said insurers need to act quickly to preserve evidence obtained on Facebook in order to […]

By Canadian Underwriter | October 8, 2009

2 min read

Insurers under-using their legal right to obtain infomation from accident benefits claimants

Insurers are under-using s. 33 of the Statutory Accident Benefit Schedule (SABS) to obtain information from an applicant applying for accident benefits. Joy Stothers of Dutton Brock LLP made the observation at the Canadian Defence Lawyers 2nd Annual Accident Benefits Experts Seminar held in Toronto.Stothers’ presentation outlined recent case law around the use of s. […]

By Canadian Underwriter | October 8, 2009

2 min read

Insurance industry sees spike in PIPEDA-related complaints

The insurance industry yielded 17% of the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)-related complaints lodged in 2008.Last year there were 442 new complaints in total, marking an increase from 2007’s 350 complaints. Financial institutions as a whole took the lion’s share of complaints (between 22% and 30%) and the insurance industry took second place, […]

By Canadian Underwriter | October 6, 2009

1 min read