Waiting For The Umpire To Make The Call Under BC's Insurance Act

Whether in baseball or a court of law, all eyes turn to the officials as they make their decision. As the expression goes: the waiting is the hardest part. A new Court decision has denied a claimant's attempt to terminate her dispute resolution hearings with multiple insurers in a three-year dispute over the value of water damage in her strata unit. While the Court denied her attempt, insurers should consider whether the dispute resolution process is proceeding in a timely and cost effective way.

In King v. Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, 2022 BCSC 973, the BC Supreme Court held that the Insured could not opt out of the mandatory dispute resolution process ("DRP") which she had commenced pursuant to section 12 of BC's Insurance Act, RSBC 2012, c 1 (the "Act"). The DRP intends to provide a simple, cost-effective method to resolve disputes at an early stage.