Insurance risk original
FIRST OR THIRD PARTY COVERAGE ADVICE

INDEPENDENT
OR JOINTLY

This Practice Group is made up of experienced lawyers from the independent affiliated law firms that comprise Canadian Litigation Counsel.

Insurance Coverage

CLC lawyers and their firms are available to work independently or, where instructed, in collaboration with one another in the increasingly complex area of policy drafting, coverage opinion work, and related coverage litigation or other dispute resolution techniques. From a legal perspective, there are three elements to a coverage risk management program:

Scope Of Services

The Coverage Group’s legal services to the insurance and risk management community include:

  • drafting new or revised wordings
  • coverage advice and analysis on claims
  • representation on applications to determine coverage or defend actions on the policy
  • selection of appropriate experts and consultants to advise on coverage related analysis (accountants, engineers, industry underwriting professionals)
  • advice on new jurisprudence, statutory developments and other legal or industry developments in the area of insurance coverage

Coverage retainers must be sensitive to legal developments across Canada and in the leading U.S. jurisdictions. The Coverage Group strives to stay attuned to the latest in trends thus providing clients with the very best in coverage advice and representation.

First Party Coverage Issues

First party coverage disputes between insurer and policyholder arise in many forms including those covering:

  • commercial property & business interruption/lost profits
  • boiler & machinery
  • priority of loss disputes between Property and B&M carriers
  • fidelity bond, surety and crime
  • personal lines property
  • Practice (e-commerce, product recall etc.)

Third Party Coverage Issues

Third party liability coverage issues and disputes between insurer and policyholder or between two or more insurers or reinsurers include:

  • duty to defend analysis
  • allocation of defence costs and indemnity payments
  • trigger of coverage and multiple year “long tail” analysis
  • “other insurance” issues on co-primary same coverage and different primary forms (CGL/E&O/D&O)
  • single year and multi-year excess/umbrella layer analysis
  • bad faith handling and resolving conflict of interest scenarios
  • declaratory proceedings to determine obligations to policyholders or as between insurers on the same risk
  • reinsurance treaty disputes on aggregate and individual loss payments

The independent affiliated firms of Canadian Litigation Counsel are uniquely positioned to provide Canada-wide legal services on an individual or joint retainer basis for all or any elements of a coverage risk management program, whether from a policyholder, insurer or reinsurer perspective.

Publications