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Vol. 7 - Issue 9
December 19, 2018

 

Congratulations Michael Teitelbaum: Ontario Insurance Law & Commentary (2019 Edition) Released

I am pleased to report that Lexis recently published the 2019 Edition of Ontario Insurance Law & Commentary by Michael Teitelbaum of Toronto’s Hughes Amys LLP. 

Lexis puts it this way: “This concise guide to insurance law in Ontario is designed for insurance law practitioners, in-house counsel, insurance companies and professionals. The commentary, prepared by Michael S. Teitelbaum of Hughes Amys LLP, provides an overview of the principles and key issues in liability, property and life insurance plus an annotated review of selected key provisions of the Insurance Act. Other features include the full text of the Act and related legislation.”

As someone who knows the challenges of writing an insurance law book, I always enjoy congratulating someone who has done that, as well as checking out how they approached the task.

Michael and his colleagues take an interesting, unique and effective tack to presenting the information in Ontario Insurance Law & Commentary.  They strive to encapsulate, annotate and update Ontario’s (and, as readers will see, common law Canada’s) insurance law on an annual basis.

 

It's also interesting to see the similarities and differences between Ontario/Canadian law and U.S. insurance law. From time to time, Michael sprinkles in some U.S. law references in the Commentary’s footnotes noting their potential relevance to Canadian law.  I was flattered to see some references to this newsletter when he does that.

Michael advises that among the most interesting cases discussed in the latest edition are:
 

  • Oliveira v. Aviva Canada Inc., in which the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the application judge’s finding that the insurer had a duty to defend the privacy tort claim of intrusion upon seclusion, observing that the unauthorized access to hospital records was ‘precisely the sort of conduct [this professional and general liability] policy was intended to respond to’;
  • The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Usanovic v. Penncorp Life Insurance Company (La Capitale Financial Security Insurance Company), which was released just as the 2018 Commentary was going to press, upholding the motion judge’s dismissal of this LTD benefits action as limitation-barred because the insurer did not breach its duty of good faith by failing to inform the insured of the limitation period when it terminated his benefits as there was no statutory obligation to do so in Ontario; and
  • Aviva Insurance Company v. Intact Insurance Company, where the Ontario Superior Court found that liability coverage was complementary and not overlapping, the insurer provided primary and not excess coverage, and was obliged to contribute to the costs of defence and settlement.

I can’t imagine someone, who has anything to do with Ontario insurance law (or, indeed, insurance law in Canada for that matter, particularly the common law provinces, but also Quebec where I understand some of the common law decisions have some application), not having Ontario Insurance Law & Commentary at their fingertips.  Congratulations Michael on the 2019 edition of this must-have book. 

More information, and how to order, is here.       

And, anyone interested in keeping abreast of Canadian (and particularly Province of Ontario), insurance and tort law may wish to check out the Blawg posts on Hughes Amys LLP’s website, at http://www.hughesamys.com/blawg.

 
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