Insurance Coverage For Gun Attacks: Carr Law v. Certas Home And Auto Insurance

When hitmen attempted to murder a lawyer for her work exposing conspiracies to commit insurance fraud, her law firm’s business collapsed. The threat of the hitmen returning meant that the firm’s office was no longer safe. The firm’s insurer clients withdrew out of fear they might also be targeted. Compounding the firm’s problems, the firm’s insurance provider refused to indemnify the firm for their loss of income beyond the brief period it took to repair the bullet holes in the office.

In Carr Law P.C. et al. v. Certas Home and Auto Ins. Co., 2026 ONSC 2203, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the law firm (“Carr Law”) was entitled to be indemnified by the insurer (“Certas”) for Carr Law’s income loss due to the total shutdown of the firm’s business. Under their insurance policy, Carr Law’s entitlement to coverage for lost business income was not limited to the period of a few days that it took to repair the physical damage to their office. The Court grappled with the extent of