A year ago, Quebec Superior Court admonished the “seemingly impenetrable world of insurers to open their eyes” after it ruled that an insurance company must pay beneficiaries $1.5 million because it failed to properly reveal exclusions in an insurance policy.
Justice Jean-Yves Lalonde warned insurers that they must clearly indicate exclusions or clauses, particularly clauses dealing with suicide, that reduce coverage under an appropriate heading or risk having the exclusion clause declared null and void.
“It’s a ruling that changes the state of law on this issue as it is the first judgment that has annulled a suicide clause,” noted insurance law expert Jacqueline Bissonnette.
“What’s new is that the ruling stipulates that the suicide clause should be included in the same way as the other exclusions. That’s what’s new, and that if it’s not included, the policy will be cancelled and the exclusion will be considered to be unwritten,” added Bisonnette, a Montreal lawyer with Poudrier Bradet Avocats and Chair of the executive of the insurance and civil litigation section of the Canadian Bar Association, Quebec branch.