BC’s New Insurance Act: Making the Transition to the New World Order

Articles

Updated November 2012

In 2003, a lawyer’s negligence case involving a missed limitation period resulted in a Supreme Court of Canada decision declaring that BC’s Insurance Act was "outmoded", "incapable of coherently addressing the modern multi-peril policy", and resulted in "unproductive, wasteful litigation about technicalities" KP Pacific Holdings Ltd. v. Guardian Insurance [2003] 1 S.C.R. 433 ("KP Pacific").

The case dealt with the limitation period applicable to the coverage enforcement action under an all risk property policy. The Court held that such a policy could not be "shoe-horned" into the Fire Part of the Insurance Act and instead applied the longer limitation period stipulated by the General Provisions (Part 2) of the Act. It specifically urged the legislatures across the country to "rectify this situation".

In 2009 the BC Legislature finally got around to amending the Insurance Act.

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