Court File and Parties
COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
2014 ONCA 805
DATE: 2014-11-17
DOCKET: C58764
BEFORE: Cronk, Gillese and Rouleau JJ.A.
BETWEEN
Jie (Jay) Xu, by his Litigation Guardian Guoping (Annie) Huang, Chao (Sarah) Xu, and Guoping (Annie) Huang, personally
Appellants
and
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Limited and Chubb Insurance Company of Canada
Respondents
COUNSEL:
Alan A. Farrer and David F. MacDonald, for the appellants
Paul Tushinski and Eric J. Adams, for the respondents
HEARD AND RELEASED ORALLY: November 12, 2014
On appeal from the order of Justice Thomas McEwen of the Superior Court of Justice, dated April 8, 2014.
ENDORSEMENT
[1] This insurance-related appeal concerns two questions:
whether a leasing company’s insurer enjoys the protection of s. 267.12 of the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. I.8, such that its liability for loss or damage from bodily injury or death arising directly or indirectly from the use or operation of a leased motor vehicle is limited to $1 million, less any amounts available under the lessee’s policy of insurance; and
whether, in this case, the leasing company and owner of a car involved in a motor vehicle accident, together with the driver of the car, are “insureds” within the meaning of a standard SPF 7 excess insurance policy such that the excess policy responds to a claim against the driver as an unnamed insured.
[2] With respect to the first question, the application judge concluded that s. 267.12 of the Insurance Act precludes a lessee from coverage under a lessor’s insurance policy beyond the qualified $1 million cap on liability set out in that section. In other words, the liability of a lessor and its insurer is limited to a maximum of $1 million by reason of s. 267.12.
[3] For the reasons expressed by the application judge, we agree. This conclusion is dispositive of the appeal. Accordingly, we do not reach the additional interpretive question raised by the appellants, described above.
[4] The appeal is therefore dismissed. The costs of the appeal are fixed in the agreed amount of $15,000, inclusive of disbursements and all applicable taxes.
“E.A. Cronk J.A.”
“E.E. Gillese J.A.”
“Paul Rouleau J.A.”