The plaintiff sued the property owner and the winter maintenance contractor after slipping on black ice.
The contractor had breached its service contract by failing to name the property owner as an additional insured on its liability policy.
The motion judge ordered the contractor to defend and indemnify the property owner.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal set aside the order, holding that the indemnification order was premature and that the breach of the insurance obligation gave rise to a remedy in damages for defence costs, not a duty to defend.
The contractor was ordered to pay the property owner's defence costs, except those incurred exclusively to defend claims not arising from the contractor's performance of the contract.
