TORONTO, April 23, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Justice Archie Campbell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, has appointed Justice Roland Haines of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in London, to case manage all of the Ontario class actions relating to the auto deductible refunds, owing to car owners.
Lawyers in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver have filed a number of lawsuits against both private and public car insurance companies in courts in Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta. As many as two million Canadians, who have written off their cars in the last 10 years could be eligible for refunds of their insurance deductibles -- ranging from $250 to $50,000 as a result of a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
Koskie Minsky (Toronto), McNally Cuming Allchurch (Calgary) and Klein Lyons (Vancouver and Toronto) have jointly filed the lawsuits against the car insurers.
The lawsuits involve insurance deductibles withheld by the companies for cars totaled in collisions. Anyone in Canada whose car was written off and who paid a deductible could be affected.
Future lawsuits against the remaining insurance companies are planned.
On March 8, 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal by the Co-Operators General Insurance Company, meaning an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that policy holders whose cars are written off should get the full value of their vehicle, and that no deductible should be applied.
"The court ruling states that people must be paid the actual cash value of their car, not the actual cash value less the deductible," said Kirk Baert of Koskie Minsky in Toronto.
Bill McNally of McNally Cuming Allchurch in Calgary stated that "the Supreme Court of Canada has decided that they do not want to tinker with the Ontario decision. It means that for all intents and purposes, it's the law of the land."
"It doesn't seem like a lot of money, but when you consider there are thousands of people involved, it amounts to a lot of money," McNally said.
David Klein of Klein Lyons said that "about 100,000 people total their cars annually in the affected provinces, so many people may have a claim."
Affected policyholders should call to find out if the insurance company they deal with has been sued.
For further information please visit www.koskieminsky.com and click on class actions.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca