Autumn 2005 NEWSLETTER to clients of Knox Insurance Brokers Ltd. From: Randy Bushey, A.I.I.C., General Manager	Close newsletter
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TOPIC: PERSONAL LIABILITY INSURANCE - How Much is Enough?

As trusted advisors, our clients often ask, "How much coverage should I be carrying?" This question is most difficult to answer when considering how much protection will be required to respond to a catastrophic event. For example, a $13.2 million judgement was awarded to a Saskatchewan girl injured in an automobile accident.

Most of our clients give little thought to this issue, until they hear in the news of a horrendous motor vehicle accident, or some multi-million dollar legal settlement. A recent review of our portfolio indicates, many of our clients carry $1 million coverage for third party liability relating to the operation of their vehicles, activities of themselves and their family members, and premises liability for ownership of home, cottage or investment properties. In addition, this limit has been maintained for the last 10 years, even though "legal inflation" has constantly eroded the adequacy of this limit.

For significant claims occurring this year, the final settlement will likely not be known for 8 to 10 years or more. Therefore, as part of your risk management review, we must ask: How will serious injuries be evaluated in the courts a decade from today?

Increasingly, Canadian courts are assessing higher monetary settlements to individuals who are permanently and seriously injured. Please see the reverse of this document, for a monetary summary of Canadian court decisions from 2004.

Please consider raising your liability limits for your family member’s personal liability including ownership, use or operation of vehicles, boats, homes, cottages and recreation vehicles.

We can guide you to consider the coverage limits reasonably necessary to enhance your financial protection.

The following were decided by various courts in our country in 2004:

• the Supreme Court of B.C. has awarded $2.8 million to a 25-year-old woman who was injured in August 1997 while a passenger in a rented car.

• a B.C. student injured while on a school-organized snow-board outing, has been awarded $2.9 million.

• a 32-year-old man was awarded more than $2.2million by a Quebec Superior Court judge to compensate for injuries sustained in a snowmobile accident dating back to 1993.

• in Saskatchewan, a jury awarded a teenager $13.2 million resulting from an auto accident more than 13 years ago when, as a little girl, she was attending her first day of kindergarten.

• a young woman who was seriously injured in a collision with a stationary tractor-trailer in April 1997 in Sarnia, Ontario, has been awarded $5.3million to compensate her for her injuries.

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