McNaughton certification hearings begin

Hearings in a London, Ontario courtroom got underway today to decide if the case of McNaughton v. Co-operators General Insurance will be certified as a class action lawsuit.In McNaughton v. Co-operators, the Ontario appeals court ruled that insurers cannot charge a deductible on a total loss vehicle and also sell the vehicle for salvage. Following a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada not to hear the insurer’s appeal, this next stage, attempting to have the case certified as a class action began. This would mean that suits by affected individuals against 28 insurers involved in Ontario would be lumped together. There are separate motions to certify class actions against other insurers being heard at the same time.Suits have also been launched in several other provinces, and potentially the number of vehicles involved could be in the thousands. Although deductibles were usually low in value, often between $200 and $500, the total cost to insurers could be in the millions.