This appeal concerns the extraterritorial application of Ontario's loss transfer provisions under section 275 of the Insurance Act.
The applicant, Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, appealed an arbitrator's decision that it was bound to indemnify the respondent, Echelon Insurance, for statutory accident benefits paid to an Ontario resident involved in an accident in Alberta.
Aviva argued that the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Primmum Insurance Company v. Allstate Insurance Company, which supported the application of loss transfer in similar cross-jurisdictional scenarios, was effectively overturned by a later Court of Appeal decision in Travelers Insurance Company of Canada v. CAA Insurance Company.
The court dismissed the appeal, holding that Primmum remains binding precedent on the issue of loss transfer, as Travelers addressed priority disputes under a different section of the Act and explicitly left the correctness of Primmum open for another day.
The court affirmed that an insurer licensed and doing business in Ontario is subject to the loss transfer provisions, regardless of where the specific policy was issued or the accident occurred.
