Atlantic Insurance Counsel – Winter 2014
PEI Auto Accident Benefits – Behind the Times No More
Nicole McKenna and Janet Clark
Significant changes are coming to the standard automobile policy in Prince Edward Island (“PEI”), including increases to the accident benefits available under Section B and an increase to the so-called “cap” for minor personal injury.
In the fall 2013 sitting of the provincial legislature, the government introduced a bill that would make significant changes to PEI’s accident benefits, cap and definition of “minor personal injury”, with some of these changes being consistent with what has been done in Nova Scotia and others being consistent with prior changes in New Brunswick.
Section D Denied: The Tucker Cases
In September 2012, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador released two concurrent decisions related to a collision between a pedestrian on a crosswalk and an unknown vehicle. The first decision, Tucker v. Unknown Person, dismissed the plaintiff’s application to add his own automobile insurer as a defendant to the action. In the second decision, Tucker v. AXA Insurance, the Court dismissed Tucker’s direct action against his own automobile insurer for Section D policy benefits as the limitation period had expired.
Trial by Jury when defending an Action by the Crown
Most Canadian provinces have specific legislation dealing with procedural requirements that must be followed when bringing lawsuits against the Crown. In Nova Scotia, that legislation is the Proceedings Against the Crown Act (“PACA”). Exactly what constitutes a “proceeding against the Crown” is broad, and includes claims made by set-off or counterclaim. Even where the Crown initiates a lawsuit, PACA will apply if the defendant countersues or defends on the basis that it owes the Crown less due to a set-off (i.e. because the Crown owes the defendant something as well).
Of late, juries in Nova Scotia have taken quite a beating. Over the past couple of years, courts have been more and more likely to strike jury notices on the basis that the issues are too complex for the average citizen. Despite the view that juries are simply not as equipped to handle complex legal claims as a judge, recent experience with a jury trial proved otherwise.
The ABCs of Damage Apportionment
Oftentimes, litigation involves multiple tortfeasors. The apportionment of damages between multiple tortfeasors relies on the degree of fault attributable to each of the defendants.
This article will outline the necessary steps and considerations that arise during apportionment calculations.
Archive
We are pleased to present the fourth issue of Discovery, our very own legal publication targeted to educational institutions in Atlantic Canada. While springtime for universities and colleges signal the culmination of classes, new graduates…
Read MoreGrant Machum and Richard Jordan In an earlier article, we considered an employer’s options when an employee departs and takes with them the social media contacts they have obtained during the course of their…
Read MoreMatthew Jacobs and Daniel Roth (summer student) “… we cannot be a Blockbuster government serving a Netflix society.” – The Hon. Minister Navdeep Bains paraphrasing the Hon. Scott Brison (May 2019, at the Empire…
Read MoreTauna Staniland, Andrea Shakespeare, Kimberly Bungay and Alycia Novacefski The federal government has introduced new record keeping requirements for private, federally formed corporations governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act (“CBCA”). The amendments to the…
Read MoreHealth Group, Christopher Goodridge and Matthew Jacobs The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed in a decision released on May 15, 2019 that doctors must provide an ‘effective referral’ where they are unwilling to provide care on…
Read MoreLevel Chan and Dante Manna The Province of Nova Scotia is soliciting stakeholder input on significant regulatory changes to the Pension Benefits Act (“PBA”) and Pension Benefits Regulations (“PBR”). The solicitation is accompanied by a…
Read MoreKevin Landry Health Canada has announced changes to the cannabis licensing regime. These changes come ahead of the release of the cannabis edibles, extracts, and topicals amendments to the Cannabis Regulations expected to be released…
Read MoreGrant Machum Last week’s Nova Scotia Court of Appeal’s decision in Halifax Herald Limited v. Clarke, 2019 NSCA 31, is good news for employers. The Court overturned the trial judge’s determinations that an employee had…
Read MoreRick Dunlop On April 24, 2019, the Nova Scotia Government created the Trade Union Act General Regulations so that the Labour Board will no longer consider a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday as the date of…
Read MoreRodney Zdebiak and Anthony Granville On Monday, April 15, 2019, the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature passed a number of changes to the Automobile Insurance Act (“Act”) stating that the intent is to help stabilize insurance rates,…
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