Skip to content

Client Update – Protecting the innocent in property insurance: recent amendments to Nova Scotia’s Insurance Act limit “criminal or intentional act” exclusion clauses

Jennifer Taylor

Recent amendments to the Nova Scotia Insurance Act are designed “to protect the financial interests of an innocent person when the person’s property is damaged by another person with whom that person shares an insurance policy.”1 The consequences of domestic violence provide the backdrop for these amendments, which came into force on April 18, 2018. The amendments apply to property insurance policies and will primarily impact homeowners’ policies.

As a result of the amendments, policies can no longer exclude coverage for an innocent insured who experiences property loss or damage as a result of their co-insured’s criminal or intentional wrongdoing.

When she announced these amendments to the Insurance Act, Finance Minister Karen Casey noted that they would especially assist women, who are “disproportionately” affected by domestic violence and may suffer property loss or damage at their home as a result.

Nova Scotia is one of several Canadian provinces — including New Brunswick — that have made similar amendments to their insurance legislation.

Going forward, Nova Scotia property policies will be interpreted in accordance with the new section 13A of the Insurance Act, regardless of how the policy’s exclusion clause governing criminal and intentional acts is worded.

The new section 13A of the Insurance Act provides:

13A (1) Where a contract contains a term or condition excluding coverage for loss or damage to property caused by a criminal or intentional act or omission of an insured or any other person, the exclusion applies only to the claim of a person

(a) whose act or omission caused the loss or damage;

(b) who abetted or colluded in the act or omission;

(c) who

(i) consented to the act or omission, and

(ii) knew or ought to have known that the act or omission would cause the loss or damage; or

(d) who is not a natural person.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) allows a person whose property is insured under the contract to recover more than the person’s proportionate interest in the lost or damaged property.

(3) A person whose coverage would be excluded but for subsection (1) shall

(a) co-operate with the insurer in respect of the investigation of the loss, including submitting to an examination under oath if requested by the insurer;

(b) in addition to producing any documents required by the contract, produce for examination, at a reasonable place and time specified by the insurer, all documents in the person’s possession or control that relate to the loss; and

(c) comply with any other requirement prescribed by the regulations.

NOTE: This update provides general information only and is not intended to offer legal advice. If you have specific questions about how the amendments might affect you, please contact the head of our firm-wide Insurance Defence Practice Group, Shelley Wood; Tyana Caplan; or any of Stewart McKelvey’s insurance lawyers in Nova Scotia.


1See the Explanatory Note to Bill 106, as well as “Amendments to the Insurance Act Protect Nova Scotians” (March 29, 2018).
2Donalee Moulton, “New Brunswick amends Insurance Act to better protect victims of domestic violence” in The Lawyer’s Daily (December 27, 2017).
3Insurance Act, RSNS 1989, c 231, as amended by SNS 2018, c 12 (Bill 106). The amendments have not yet been consolidated into the online version of the Insurance Act.

SHARE

Archive

Search Archive


 
 

The precariat, bargaining and union advocacy

December 15, 2020

Included in Discovery: Atlantic Education & the Law – Issue 07 Stephen Penney and Tyler Callahan Universities continue to work creatively to meet market demands despite consistent declines in public funding. Consequently, untenured term appointments…

Read More

Confidentiality clauses can be worth more than the paper they’re written on

December 11, 2020

Included in Discovery: Atlantic Education & the Law – Issue 07 Sacha Morisset Confidentiality regarding the terms of the settlement of a legal dispute is a key consideration for many parties. Most accept that the…

Read More

Federal Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations – a Guideline

December 8, 2020

Chad Sullivan and Kathleen Nash In June 2020, the Federal Government released the new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (“Regulations”) along with Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (“Code”).…

Read More

Privacy practice tune-up – getting ready for the Consumer Privacy Protection Act

December 7, 2020

Rob Aske As we wrote about earlier, Canada’s federal government has proposed a replacement to our national privacy law for commercial transactions known as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). The new…

Read More

The bubble has burst: New restrictions announced for Nova Scotia

November 27, 2020

Katharine Mack After a relatively carefree Atlantic summer, the bubble has officially burst: as COVID-19 cases begin to rise, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have all announced that they will be…

Read More

Discovery: Atlantic Education & the Law – Issue 07

November 24, 2020

We are pleased to present the seventh issue of Discovery, our very own legal publication targeted to educational institutions in Atlantic Canada. While ‘back to school’ may look a little different this year, Stewart McKelvey is…

Read More

New trust reporting and disclosure requirements under the Income Tax Act

November 24, 2020

2021: The Year of the Overshare   Richard Niedermayer, TEP, Sarah Almon and Madeleine Coats Governments around the world are taking steps to increase transparency at the expense of privacy. In Canada, federal government strategies to…

Read More

Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2020: The long-awaited overhaul of private sector privacy legislation in Canada

November 20, 2020

Koren Thomson and Sarah Byrne On November 17, 2020, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2020 (“Act”) was introduced as Bill C-11. This is the first major update to the federal private sector privacy regime in…

Read More

Federal Pay Equity Regulations published in draft – key takeaways

November 20, 2020

Jennifer Thompson The Federal Government has released draft Regulations under the Pay Equity Act (“the Act”), almost 11 months after the Act received Royal Assent. The Act, which is not yet in force, makes significant…

Read More

What steps must employers take to hire a foreign worker?

November 16, 2020

Kathleen Leighton Employers often wonder what steps they need to take to hire international talent, including what support they must provide to enable a foreign worker to obtain proper work authorization in Canada. This is…

Read More

Search Archive


Scroll To Top