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Home insurance issues dominated the sports-themed 62nd annual Conference & Trade Show of the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C. (IBABC).
Habitational insurance was the order of the day at the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C. (IBABC) 's 62nd annual Annual Conference & Trade Show, held in Victoria, B.C. in June.
The B.C. brokers' association has been front and centre in publicizing issues around the insurance to value (ITV) issue. Several brokers used the seminar as an opportunity to raise their concerns with a representative of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) about the dilemmas associated with using several different cost calculators to evaluate the reconstruction costs of homes.
Also, a B.C. lawyer brought to the brokers' attention a recent case that deals with a broker's duty of care to advise about gaps in a client's home insurance coverage. The case involves an innocent co-insured who was listed on a home insurance policy that included an intentional act exclusion for criminal activity.
A BROKER'S DUTY TO ADVISE
A February 2010 B.C. Supreme Court case, Beck v. Johnston, Meier Insurance Agencies Ltd., spells out the onus on brokers to advise clients of gaps in homeowners ' coverage, particularly in situations when the client has changed dwellings.
Krista Prockiw of Clark Wilson LLP referred to the case in her presentation during the IBABC 's home insurance seminar. The case is currently under appeal.
The case involved a tragic set of circumstances that led the court to consider whether the broker had sufficiently advised a client about an intentional act exclusion in her homeowners' policy.
Richard Beck murdered his wife, Karen Beck, in November 2007 and then set fire to the house she owned, which had been their family home and where Richard Beck had resided since his wife had moved out in 2005. Richard Beck then killed himself.
The Becks were co-insured...