Insurance

We recognize insurance is a business that requires effective management of claims and claims costs.  We also understand the value of predictability to insurance industry clients.

Our team of experienced insurance lawyers serves the legal needs of national and international insurers.  Our clients include property and casualty insurers, commercial liability insurers, professional liability insurers, large self-insured companies, insurance brokers, banks and trust companies.  We also act for large corporate insurance and risk management departments for sectors including finance, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and government.

What We Do

Members of our Insurance Law Group excel at providing advice and trial advocacy in areas including:

Casualty Insurance:

  • Complex Bodily Injury
  • Liquor Liability
  • Motor Vehicle Liability
  • Municipal Liability
  • Occupiers Liability
  • Sports & Recreational Liability

Property Insurance:

  • Construction Liability
  • Environmental Liability
  • Municipal Liability
  • Product Liability
  • Subrogation

Coverage:

  • Commercial General Liability
  • Errors & Omissions including:
    • Architects
    • Accountants
    • Engineers
    • Insurance Brokers
  • Directors & Officers liability
  • Fraud & Misrepresentation
  • Life & Disability

We have a broad range of insurance law experience including:

  • Prosecuting and defending complex property damage claims ranging from first party claims by homeowners to third party liability claims against logging contractors for forest fires.
  • Prosecuting the first successful statutory cost recovery action in BC for environmental clean up and remediation costs under the BC Waste Management Act (now the Environmental Management Act).
  • Providing coverage advice to property and casualty insurers under various types of liability policies.
  • Significant trial experience, (judge, jury and appellate review) in British Columbia as well as Alberta and Ontario.
  • Acting as monitoring counsel for international insurers on their Canadian defence and indemnity obligations.

What You Can Expect from Us

We recognize insurance is a business that requires effective management of claims and claims costs. We also understand the value of predictability to insurance industry clients. Therefore, our team thoroughly assesses claims in the context of client business objectives and the resources required to resolve a matter so that we can provide our clients with accurate appraisals of indemnity and cost exposures.

We understand cost containment is directly linked to our clients’ profitability. To assist our clients to meet their goals we develop strategies that minimize the number and length of legal processes required to resolve a claim. Where appropriate, we recommend assigning associates, articled students and legal assistants to handle specific files or tasks so that fees are kept as low as possible and in line with the nature of the matter and amount of the claim. When resolution of a claim or protecting our clients’ interests require litigation our clients are represented by lawyers with extensive litigation experience and access to resources from other firm practice groups focused on particular industries. We see this multi-faceted disciplinary approach as a value-added bonus to our clients.

Clients also have ready access to a Contact Partner who is familiar with the issues involved on their matters, relevant timeframes, strategy and status of their files. The Contact Partner monitors all files and is responsible for the provision of regular progress reports so clients can track costs relative to indemnity and make decisions to adjust claims management when necessary. When questions arise, client calls are returned promptly and if an issue requires further investigation we provide clients with a timely and full response.

We stay up-to-date with our clients’ business goals and expected outcomes on the matters we handle. We deliver optimum service and we make it a point to follow up on whether our clients were satisfied with the way their matter was handled and how we can improve our service.

Value Added Services

We provide clients with a regular newsletter on insurance law trends and matters of interest to the industry. We are also responsive to client needs for information and where requested we are happy to develop and provide in-house presentations focused on topics of particular interest.