The Ontario Court of Appeal has recently released a decision
that will be widely applauded by the insurers of heavy commercial
vehicles.
The Court of Appeal has clarified that only insurers of vehicles
directly struck by heavy commercial vehicles will be entitled to
indemnification through loss transfer while insurers of vehicles
involved in a 'chain reaction accident' but not directly
struck by the heavy commercial vehicle will have no recourse.
In November 2007, a Pepsi truck rear-ended a Dodge stopped near
an intersection in Mississauga. The impact of this collision caused
the Dodge to rear-end a Nissan, which was also stopped near the
intersection. All of the automobiles were travelling in the same
direction and in the same lane. The Pepsi truck was insured by Old
Republic and the Nissan was insured by State Farm. The driver of
the Nissan collected Accident Benefits from State Farm and, in
turn, State Farm claimed indemnification by way of the loss
transfer
