Insurance
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January 02, 2025
Ontario Court okays $14.75M class action settlement over side-effects of antipsychotic drug
The Ontario Superior Court has approved a $14.75 million class-action settlement over claims that manufacturers and marketers of certain antipsychotic drugs failed to adequately warn users that their use could increase the risk of compulsive behaviors, including compulsive gambling and hypersexuality.
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January 02, 2025
Novel family violence tort, solicitor-client privilege & insurance are on the SCC’s winter menu
What does Canadian securities law mean by making timely disclosure of “material” changes? Should the judiciary create a new tort of “family violence”? Were a lawyer’s Charter rights breached as a result of police wiretapping her phone call to a client?
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December 23, 2024
Late notice, lost coverage: Ontario Court of Appeal upholds insurer’s denial of defence
Karen Kerk was the designated insured under a home insurance policy (the policy) issued by Security National Insurance Company (the insurer). In 2016, Kerk and her spouse, Daniel Courtney (the applicants) sold their home in Gorham, Ont. (the property) to Danielle Fex and Robert Duncan (the purchasers). Despite Courtney’s representations that there were no water issues impacting the property, the purchasers soon discovered ice damming and mould growth in the home.
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December 19, 2024
Mortgage relief measures saved Canadians $4 million in penalties, says Financial Consumer Agency
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has published a report saying that Canadians with mortgages from federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) have benefited from more than 8,000 mortgage relief measures in the 12 months to June of this year.
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December 19, 2024
INSURERS - Duties - Duty of utmost good faith
Appeal by Jeweler's Mutual Insurance Co. (Jeweler's Mutual) from trial judge's award of punitive and compensatory damages in favour of the respondents.
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December 17, 2024
Ontario Court of Appeal dismisses class action after 21-year delay
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld the dismissal of a 21-year old certified class proceeding finding that the delay in the action was inordinate and inexcusable.
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December 17, 2024
Vavilov at five | Sara Blake
Five years ago, on Dec. 19, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada, in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, re-set the standard of review for questions of statutory interpretation. In that case, and two others decided in the same week, the court demonstrated how the new standard of review is to be applied.
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December 16, 2024
Federal fiscal update after Freeland’s shock departure features tax, legal changes of note to bar
Boosting the number of judges in Ontario’s Unified Family Court and Court of Appeal, making “bail and sentencing laws stricter,” and new civil remedies — and criminal penalties of up to $1 million for corporations — under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, were among the new measures proposed in the 2024 fall fiscal update by the minority Liberal government after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland stunned Ottawa by resigning from the Cabinet a few hours earlier.
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December 12, 2024
PBO releases overview of Ottawa's national housing strategy, cites challenges with certain information
The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has released a report on federal government's spending this year on its national housing strategy, noting that the government is projecting how much housing it will provide but not how many people will be in need.
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December 12, 2024
Drivers beware: Upcoming changes to car insurance in Ontario
On Oct. 16, 2024, the Ontario Government confirmed an amendment to the Insurance Act, and, more specifically, to Ontario Regulation 34/10: Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (the SABS).