Refresh/Reset - Multiple $2,000.00 Deductibles Allowed In Loss Transfer Claims

A recent Superior Court decision (Economical v. Northbridge, 2016 ONSC 458) has provided the industry with a refresh/reset in applying the $2,000.00 statutory deductible in loss transfer claims. 

The deductible in issue is set out in section 275(3) of the Insurance Act which states:

"(3) No indemnity is available under subsection (2) in respect of the first $2,000.00 of statutory accident benefits paid in respect of a person described in that subsection. 

For twenty years, the prevailing jurisprudence (Progressive Casualty v. Jevco, [1994] O.J. No. 3152) dictated that the $2,000.00 deductible applied once and only once and applied to each "incident", regardless of the number of individual accident benefits claims in respect of each incident.  For every car full of accident benefits claimants (who may be claiming from multiple insurers), the loss transfer payor was only entitled to one deductible.