Results tagged “Ontario”

A continuing increase in the number and costs of claims, a decline in investment income and the anticipated affect of the harmonized sales tax have all caused the Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO) to increase its base premium for next year, according to LAWPRO.
Ontario lawyers will pay a base premium of Cdn$2,950 per lawyer for professional liability insurance in 2010, compared to Cdn$2,450 in 2009, according to a LAWPRO release.
Many lawyers will pay significantly less than this base premium, with some paying as little as Cdn$1,595, depending on practice and coverage options selected.
The Cdn$500 increase includes Cdn$200 related to claims development, Cdn$150 decline in investment income and Cdn$150 additional annual cost for HST, LAWPRO notes.

Ontario auto rates are on the rise, according to data posted by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), the regulator of the province's insurers.
Rate applications approved for 2008 Q1 averaged +1.05%, based on the entire market, FSCO noted in an online bulletin.
Rate changes approved in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 were -10.60%, -2.43%, -1.27% and +0.55%, respectively, for the entire market.
In 2008 Q1, for the 43.37% of the market that had rate changes approved, the average rate change was +2.42%, when weighted by market share.

Desjardins General Insurance (DGI) is now offering direct home and auto insurance in Ontario.

The legal test for negligence — which would absolve an outdoor equipment provider of liability in a personal injury case — is “not perfection but rather to design a product so as to eliminate any unreasonable risk of foreseeable injury,” the Ontario Superior Court ruled in Enslev v. Challenges Unlimited Inc.
And although an outdoor swing designer might have foreseen operator error during the use of the product, the consequences of the operator error nevertheless could not have been predicted, the court found.
The decision upheld a waiver of liability contained in a signed contract between a Cleveland House (a Muskoka resort) and Challenges Unlimited, an outdoor equipment supplier.

According to the court, Carluccio, an employee of Carluccio Construction Inc., was driving the company car, insured by Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, with a license that had expired in January of that year.
Carluccio argued he did not receive a renewal form or any notice from the Ministry of Transportation that his license had expired.
Aviva denied liability to both the construction company and Pat Carluccio on the basis that driving with an expired license was a breach of statutory condition No. 4 of the Insurance Act.

Based on the rule of Ontario Superior Court Justice, the Insurer does not have to provide a defence to its insured.

It is clear breach the statutory condition, will void your policy. Any drivers does not hold valid driver license and have a damage in accident, the Auto Insurance policy will not pay you for the liability or property damage.

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Ontario appeal court has this case: Clarendon National Insurance v. Candow.

“An insurer’s right to bring a subrogated action is dependent on the existence of a cause of action by the insured,” Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Russell Juriansz wrote for the Appeal Court.

Ontario's "no fault" insurance bars subrogated tort claims brought by U.S.-based insurers: Appeal Court

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has approved an average fourth-quarter rate decrease of 2.56% for 12 companies representing almost a quarter of the Ontario private passenger auto insurance market.

The average rate decrease for the first, second, and third quarters were 1.12% (7.5% of the market), 1.62%(45.79% of the market) and 1.62%(61.82% of the market), respectively.

Rate changes approved for the entire market averaged a decrease of 10.6% in 2004, FSCO recently announced on their Web site. In 2005, approved rates declinded by 2.43% for the entire market.

"The rate changes posed reflect cost savings measures arising from recent reforms to the automobile insurance system, which are being passed onto consumers in the form of lower rates," FSCO says on its web site. "The approved rate change shown for each insurance company is the average for that particular company. The impact of a rate change on an individual consumer will vary depending on where the consumer lives, the type of car he or she is driving, and other risk characteristics."