When drafting this introduction to our newsletter capping the first six months of 2021, I realized that, while we were adjusting our services to maintain RSS’s standards during the last year and a half, we went significantly beyond what used to be our “business as usual” mode.

Actually, our business is growing, and our dedicated Insurance Law Practice Group is more dynamic than ever. As we celebrate our 100-year anniversary, we reflect upon the fact that providing best-in-class service and delivering on our client promise have always been core values at RSS.

We are excited about the success of our recent recruitment efforts that resulted in the addition of the following talented individuals who share our passion for excellence:

• Emmanuelle Campeau has over a decade of experience as a litigator with respect to a broad range of civil and professional liability matters. She is also very skilled regarding tax litigation and is an accredited mediator.
• Caroline Cassagnabère acts on behalf of insured parties with respect to professional liability, product liability, and latent defect matters. She also works with our Class Action team defending some of the highest-profile cases.
• Emily Dikranian is a member of the Quebec and Ontario Bars who has solid experience regarding matters involving health law and particularly the defence of health professionals. She enjoys working on general civil and professional liability matters.
• Hélène Maurice is passionate about litigation and is involved with complex bodily injury and construction defect matters. She represents insured parties including manufacturers and other businesses.
• Nathan Hassan Omar interprets various insurance polices in the context of complex coverage matters. He has also worked on significant litigation files, including several Wellington applications.
• Catherine Cloutier is a member of the Quebec and Ontario Bars who focuses her practice on insurance litigation, with an emphasis on commercial general liability (particularly bodily injury) and construction matters. Her experience as a nutritionist-dietician is beneficial for insurers who issue various types of specific errors and omissions insurance policies.

We also welcomed Wendy Landrigan-Pant to our growing team of paralegals who work in tandem with our lawyers to ensure that files are handled efficiently. Their work and expertise also enable us to remain one of Eastern Canada’s leading group of insurance law experts.

These new resources allowed us to focus on strengthening our forces regarding two areas of law with increasing significance: cyber risk, and class actions. Some of the cases referred to below have been handled by these newly structured groups.

Our Training Sessions Went Online

Those who have been monitoring our activities will recall that we used to conduct yearly in-person training sessions each spring. Due to Covid-19, we quickly pivoted to offer on-line (webinar) training, which helped us achieve even greater participation, and such training included:

• Covid-19 and Civil Law Deadlines, Patrick Henry;
• Recent Developments in Insurance, Stéphanie Beaudoin;
• Duty to Defend of the Liability Insurer: Cases Justifying the Sharing of Defence Costs, Hugues Duguay;
• Assignment of Claims and Subrogation: Two Distinct Legal Regimes, Marcel-Olivier Nadeau.

Webinar training is now part of the continuing education tools offered by RSS. In addition, on June 16, 2021, we hosted a webinar titled Hidden Defects and Insurance Coverage, presented by Jean-François Lamoureux.

To ensure that you and your team are kept abreast of all upcoming activities, visit the subscriptions page on our website and sign up. By signing up, you will also receive newsletters according to your interests.

RSS was also present at the 2021 edition of the Journées de l’assurance de dommages, which is, as you probably know, a key event for the damage insurance industry in Quebec. On April 13 and 14, insurance specialists gathered for a string of online discussions and seminars.

Finally, the below details regarding our activities provide a glimpse of exactly how we are able to serve your best interests.

Mariella De Stefano, Partner, Co-chair, Insurance Law Practice Group

The Million-Dollar Circle

• Defending a manufacturer of mechanical bulk materials handling equipment and systems against a claim for defects to a conveyor system ($22 million);
• Defended individuals in relation to an over $1-million claim following the plaintiff’s fall during the course of painting work in the defendants’ house;
• Defending a lawyer against a $2-million claim alleging that she failed in her obligation to provide advice regarding a contract that was not advantageous. Matter dismissed because RSS was able to prove that the opposing party caused the disastrous situation by lying to hide their fraudulent intent.

Class Actions

• Defending a grocery chain against a class action by buyers of strawberries and juices allegedly contaminated with the hepatitis A virus;
• Represented a maker of snowmobile parts in an application for permission to withdraw a class action based on the alleged premature deterioration of snowmobile tracks;
• Filed an application for authorization to appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada against a class action for the refund of fees demanded by health professionals for treatments that should be covered by the government regime. RSS is defending an association of health professionals, and argues that the claim falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Quebec’s Health Insurance Board;
• Defending radiology clinics against a class action by persons who tried unsuccessfully to obtain appointments for ultrasonographic exams. Allowed by consent to settle.

Professional Liability

• Defending an accountant in connection with a claim for the refund of taxes on a new rental apartment;
• Defending a notary in connection with the unequal partition of proceeds from the sale of a building;
• Representing a notary impleaded through an application for improbation of a deed that he drafted. Application dismissed, since the notary faithfully carried out instructions received;
• Defending a notary in relation to an application for judicial declarations of servitudes, of surface rights and acquisition by prescription on neighboring properties of the plaintiff. RSS prevailed: the notary had not failed in his obligation of means; application otherwise baseless;
• Defended a lawyer in relation to a claim alleging malpractice towards an employee who had sought legal assistance after having allegedly been dismissed without cause and subject to psychological harassment. Claim dismissed: any errors committed by the lawyer had no material impact on the plaintiff’s failed employment-related disputes;
• Defending an accountant with respect to a claim put forward by a client who had been allegedly advised by the accountant to make a donation that was disallowed for charitable purposes;
• Represented the notaries’ insurance fund in litigation over the liability of the buyers of a condo for unpaid condo fees;
• Represented a notary that was released at the beginning of proceedings as RSS demonstrated that he had faithfully reproduced the parties’ declarations and that improbation was not required to prove that the deed was fraudulent;
• Defended a notary sued for having allegedly acted as an accomplice of the defendants in a real estate fraud and having misrepresented some facts upon the conclusion of deeds on the property. The Court ruled that the plaintiff had taken part in the fraud and caused his own damages. The notary was unaware of any fraudulent element and was not responsible for the loss;
• Defending a notary sued for having allegedly failed to faithfully express the intent of a testator in a will, thus depriving the plaintiff of the shares of a company in which he was a key employee;
• Defending a notary against a claim for professional liability: by failing to publish a marriage contract, he allegedly deprived the plaintiff from exercising her rights on shares of companies launched by her late husband. Claim dismissed: by omitting the registration, the notary followed the husband’s instructions;
• Representing a notary involved in a claim for payment of a $200,000 deposit related to a failed promise to acquire a building, Preliminary step: safeguard order;
• Represented a notary involved in litigation arising from the disposition of a share in an immoveable despite a clause of first refusal binding the donees of the immoveable;
• Defending a US law firm against a $2.5-million claim based on the firm’s alleged failure to institute collection proceedings. Debate on the jurisdiction of Canadian courts;
• Defending a notary against a claim alleging that she had not adequately verified the capacity of the plaintiffs’ father when he sold his immovable.

Coverage Matters

• Advised an insurer in relation to coverage regarding alleged errors by a professional who provided advice regarding a corporate re-organization which resulted in higher than anticipated tax implications;
• Provided coverage advice in the employment context which included discrimination claims as well as the question of whether coverage is available regarding an employment practices claim put forward by an independent contractor;
• Provided advice to an insurer under a commercial general liability insurance policy regarding property damage sustained to a major highway;
• Provided coverage advice following ransomware incidents that impacted educational institutions and municipalities;
• Provided advice regarding the percentage share of each insurer regarding a cyber matter where multiple insurance policies were issued;
• Reviewed coverage regarding Business Interruption Loss sustained by a corporation whose operations were crippled in various locations across North America following a ransomware attack that encrypted several servers;
• Provided coverage advice to an insurer under a directors and officers insurance policy regarding a class action filed against various financial institutions in relation to alleged improper kickbacks received from service providers;
• Issued a coverage opinion regarding class action securities claims in relation to alleged misrepresentations contained in publicly disclosed documents;
• Issuance of opinions on:
  • Coverage issues arising out of several multi-million dollar lawsuits filed in the United States by firefighters who allege exposure, over many years, to Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in various products manufactured by North American companies;
  • Coverage issues arising out of a class action complaint filed by present and former members of a Canadian national artistic swim team with respect to alleged multi-year abusive conduct;
  • Choice of law and coverage issues arising out of multi-decade institutional sexual abuse claims;
  • Choice of law and coverage issues arising out of multi-jurisdictional securities and products liability class actions;
  • Coverage issues arising out of ransomware claims;
  • Coverage issues arising out of complex construction project litigation.

A Wide Variety of Insurance Cases

• Defended an insurer in relation to a claim for disability insurance benefits by a worker having voluntarily confined himself at the beginning of the pandemic;
• Defended an insurer in relation to the theft of a leased luxury vehicle falling under a policy exclusion of coverage;
• Defending a roofing company in relation to water infiltrations in a new building;
• Represented the vendor of allegedly defective building materials in its action in sub-warranty, which was met with a defence based on a clause granting jurisdiction wrongly interpreted as an election of forum, and prescription. Defence dismissed: our client’s action in sub-warranty is allowed;
• Defended an insurer against a claim arising from a construction defect that appeared gradually, thus raising the problem of the starting point of prescription;
• Acting for the defence in a case arising from the loss of an eye by a participant in a game of piñata during a celebration;
• Defended a municipality against an application to quash a minor derogation to its zoning, subdivision and construction by-laws allowed to validate the construction of a residence too close to the street;
• Defending an insurer against a disability insurance claim from an orthopedic surgeon who alleges being totally disabled whereas he can still perform some of the acts relevant to his profession;
• Defending a developer and contractor having developed a condominium project allegedly affected with construction and planning defects in the exterior of the buildings, air conditioning and access to buildings for maintenance;
• Defending an air-conditioning company against a claim for damages allegedly caused by a leak in the water drainage pipe of an air-conditioning system installed by our client;
• Defending a construction company against an application for an injunction to compel it to abide by certain standards related to the risk of activities conducted in the building (F1 or F2), considering a disagreement on the requirements dictated by contract;
• Homologation in the civil domain of a judgment in a criminal matter ordering the payment of compensation;
• Defending a plumbing company against a compensatory claim by insurers following an incorrect repair by an employee who was attempting to fix a faulty drain;
• Defended an insurer against a claim under an emergency medical expenditures policy, following a repeat hospitalization, and raising the problem of a clause excluding coverage for “the same medical condition”;
• Defended insurers against Wellington-type applications to declare the insured defendants’ right to select their lawyer; application dismissed, as this selection is the prerogative of the insurers.
• Defended a construction company against a liability claim by a worker having been injured in an industrial accident and already being paid compensation by the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail. Claim dismissed since the case is entirely within the jurisdiction of the government’s regime of worker compensation;
• Application to compel the examination of the plaintiff and his spouse in person to facilitate the appreciation of their credibility, notwithstanding the health-related directives in force during the pandemic requiring videoconferencing: application allowed. Claim of $368,000 for a fire;
• Defending an insurer against a claim by a third party whose property, a trailer, was damaged by the fault of the insurer who had leased it and had it in its possession;
• Representing the insurer of a company having provided beams used in the construction of a building affected by flooring deflections;
• Defended a municipality against claims arising from the infiltration of water having damaged a building and a vehicle. The infiltration was allegedly caused by water main breaks or clogged drainage wells.

Commitment to the Profession

Marcel-Olivier Nadeau, from our Saguenay office, was elected to the Board of the Bar of Quebec. He previously, held the position of bâtonnier of the Bar of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean until May 7, 2021.