Direct Tel. (604) 643-3168
Email jlh@cwilson.com

Area of Practice

Insurance, Environmental and Commercial Litigation.

Representative Work

Insurance Litigation

Appearing in the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of the successful appellant in Family Insurance v. Lombard Canada, now the leading case in Canada and the Commonwealth on the issue of overlapping coverage between liability insurance policies.

Appearing in the BC Court of Appeal on behalf of the successful appellant in North Newton Warehouses Ltd. v. Alliance Woodcraft Manufacturing Inc., expected to be a leading case in the area of "tort immunity" arising out of insurance covenants in commercial contracts.

Defending a major Texas oil trader in a multi-million dollar lawsuit arising out of the supply of fuel to a Canadian Territorial government.

Obtaining a stay of proceedings in favour of a U.S. resident defendant in a claim brought in British Columbia.

Defending several actions, including class action proceedings, arising out of the catastrophic collapse of a church floor during a rock concert.

Regularly assisting U.S. and out-of-province Canadian insurers with cross-border coverage issues arising out of motor vehicle claims involving non-BC residents.

Regularly representing insurers in various property loss, bodily injury and product liability cases, as well as equitable contribution claims and coverage disputes.

Regularly acting for defendants in construction deficiency, building envelope failure and fire cases.

Acting for highway maintenance contractors in numerous "black ice" MVA cases.

Additional Representative work: Environmental Business Litigation

Profile

Jonathan Hodes is a partner at Clark Wilson LLP. He is Co-Chair of the firm's Environmental Law Practice Group, and a member of its Insurance Litigation, Business Litigation, and United States Law Practice Groups. He is a member of the Bars of the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, and the State of Colorado, having been admitted to all three in 1996.

Jon obtained his LL.B from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and his JD from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, both in 1995. He began his career with a prominent law firm in Edmonton, following which he moved to Vancouver. He has appeared in all levels of court in British Columbia, as well as the Alberta Provincial Court, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Nunavut Court of Justice, Federal Court Trial Division and Supreme Court of Canada.

His practice is in insurance, environmental and business litigation, including a wide variety of actions involving liability claims, environmental clean-up litigation, coverage disputes, construction deficiency claims, breach of contract and other business litigation matters.

In addition, Jon has written on insurance and environmental issues for various Clark Wilson publications, including the Insurance Group's Insurance Bulletin and the Manual for Out-of-Province Claims Examiners. He has also contributed to CLE's Annual Review of Law and Practice and Motor Vehicle Practice Manual, published articles in The Lawyers Weekly and Defence Research Institute's For the Defence magazine, and been quoted in Canadian Underwriter.

Jon has spoken on insurance and environmental issues for the Insurance Institutes of BC and Alberta, Canadian Defence Lawyers, Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, Insurance Brokers' Association of BC, the Pacific Business and Law Institute, the Canadian Institute, Infonex and various clients of Clark Wilson. He has also organized and presented seminars accredited by Washington State's Office of the Insurance Commissioner to assist U.S. claims examiners in handling insurance claims in British Columbia.

Jon is a Board Member of the Canadian Defence Lawyers, a national organization which represents the interests of defence counsel to the insurance industry, and is affiliated with the Defence Research Institute in the U.S.