Claims (September 01, 2010)

ALBERTA SETS RECORD WITH $400-MILLION HAILSTORM

Alberta’s July 12 hailstorm caused a record-setting $400 million in insured damages, the Insurance Bureau of Canada reports, citing data from PCS-Canada.

The amount establishes a new record for insured hailstorm damage in Canada.

The previous record was set in Calgary in 1991, when a 30-minute storm generated roughly 62,000 claims and $342 million in home and auto property damage.

Noting deadly windstorms in 2009 that caused $347 million worth of insured damage in Alberta, Doug Noble, IBC’s vice president of Alberta and the North, commented: “There is no doubt we are seeing more and more the impact of severe weather in Alberta.”

SURVEILLANCE FOR A CIVIL LEGAL ACTION DOES NOT FALL UNDER PRIVACY LAW: FEDERAL COURT

Using surveillance to help mount a defence in a civil legal action is not a

“commercial activity” under Canada’s privacy law and therefore does not come under the Personal

Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Federal Court of Canada has ruled.

Nevertheless, the Privacy Commissioner does have jurisdiction to investigate the claim, the court also found.

In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and Privacy Commissioner of Canada, State Farm collected surveillance and evidence on Gerald Gaudet on behalf of its insured policyholder, Jennifer Vetter.

Gaudet launched a civil tort suit against Vetter related to a 2005 automobile accident. Gaudet demanded that State Farm hand over any and all documentation the insurer had collected on him, argu- ing that to collect evidence and to use surveillance without his knowledge or permission is a violation of his rights under PIPEDA.

State Farm argued the evidence fell outside the scope of PIPEDA and that it was protected by client-attorney privilege. The insurer argued further that it was not within the privacy commissioner’s jurisdiction to investigate the claim.