Insurance
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June 12, 2024
Quebec owner-pharmacists association seeks class action against ‘specialty pharmacies’
The association representing Quebec pharmacist-owned pharmacies has launched a class action against 10 of its own members, three patient support program (PSP) managers and three private infusion networks alleging the respondents are engaged in anti-competitive practices that are costing pharmacies millions of dollars in lost sales.
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June 12, 2024
Saskatchewan regulator details strategic plan progress for 2023
Saskatchewan’s law society made strides last year in rolling out parts of its current Strategic Plan — particularly in promoting diversity and equality, ensuring the competence of new lawyers and increasing access to justice for the incarcerated.
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June 12, 2024
Life insurance proceeds and dependent support obligations
In my May 31, 2024 article, “Enforcing support obligations in separation agreements and court orders against an estate,” I discussed some of the legislative mechanisms dependants can use to obtain and enforce support orders. Once an order for support has been made, what assets belonging to the payor can be charged to satisfy the order? Specifically, can the proceeds of a life insurance policy held by the payor be used to fund the support ordered by the court?
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June 11, 2024
Appeal Court restores $1M award for fire-damaged property in 'important' insurance decision
The Ontario Court of Appeal has reinstated an umpire’s determination that the actual cash value (ACV) of a commercial premises partially destroyed in a fire was $1,084,000, finding that the award was not arbitrary even though it far exceeded the market value of the premises.
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June 11, 2024
Mind the gap: Compliance in the era of digital insurance distribution, part two
As with other types of online offerings, digital insurance products and services continue to evolve and are becoming increasingly personalized. Customers are being given more control over “self-service” options as companies seek to reduce areas of customer friction. While carriers and intermediaries continue to innovate insurance offerings and platforms in response to market demand, the regulatory framework in many jurisdictions has not yet evolved to contemplate the true manner in which policies are, and will be, sold, marketed or managed.
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June 11, 2024
Clutter: How to remove it and organize your affairs
Whether it is technological challenges, including accessing the information we need through a portal when it used to come automatically through snail mail, new legislation and increasing tax compliance or keeping our estate planning up to date, many of us feel overwhelmed when it comes to keeping our financial affairs up to date and in order.
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June 07, 2024
Mind the gap: Compliance in the era of digital insurance distribution
Online purchasing has infiltrated every aspect of daily life. From ride-sharing and online retail and grocery purchases to travel and hotel bookings, the ease of digital purchasing satisfies the consumer need for instantaneous consumption. Insurance is no different. Customers expect to be provided tailored offerings that are relevant to their needs in a straightforward, user-friendly manner, and insurers have gone to great lengths to modernize their distribution models to meet consumer demand.
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June 07, 2024
New innovator-in-residence at Ontario Bar Association
The Ontario Bar Association (OBA) announced in a June 5 news release that it had appointed Colin Lachance as the innovator-in-residence for the 2024-25 year.
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June 07, 2024
SCC rules on interplay of informer privilege & open courts in so-called secret trial case
The Supreme Court of Canada says no “secret” trial occurred during the in-camera prosecution of a confidential police informer in Quebec, but it has ordered 9-0 that a redacted trial judgment should be made public, which contains no information that might identify the police informer in breach of what the top court has previously described as the “extremely broad and powerful” informer privilege.
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June 06, 2024
B.C. court awards $15K per person for ICBC privacy breach that led to arson, shooting attacks
The British Columbia Supreme Court has awarded $15,000 each in general non-pecuniary damages to B.C. residents impacted by a privacy breach in which a Crown corporation employee improperly accessed the personal information of 79 individuals and sold at least some of it to a criminal group.