Alberta Courts Limit Insurers' Ability To Share Information With Police

A recent decision by the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench (the Court or ABQB) affirmed the duty of utmost good faith owed by insurers to their policyholders. In Barata v Intact Insurance Company, 2021 ABQB 419 [Barata], the Court stated that there is an implied obligation in every insurance contract that insurers are to deal with claims in good faith and held that disclosure to police by an insurance investigator resulted in a breach of this obligation.

Background

The Plaintiff and her husband were in her vehicle when it struck and killed a third party; however, they fled the scene before the RCMP arrived. Later that day, the RCMP arrested the Plaintiff's husband, on the assumption that he had been the driver, and charged him with impaired driving causing death and other criminal offences. The Plaintiff's vehicle was insured with the Defendant insurer and the insurer assigned the co-Defendant employee to investigate. In the course of investigations, the Plaintiff