Van attack victims have wider range of recourse options: insurance lawyers

TORONTO — Lawyers say the victims of a deadly van attack in northern Toronto have a wide range of options for recourse to deal with the fallout because it involved a motor vehicle.

Car insurance is mandatory in Ontario and lawyers say the pedestrians that were hit and their families will first be able to access funds through the driver’s and rental agency’s insurance coverage and — if that is not available or enough — through their own motor vehicle policies.

Toronto-based insurance lawyer Eric Grossman says if the vehicle driver’s or vehicle owner’s insurance does not offer enough to cover victims’ needs, pedestrians who are hurt in a collision can make a claim against their personal auto insurance plans, if they have them.

He says regulations stipulate that car insurance policies must offer a minimum of $200,000 of coverage in scenarios where the other party in the collision is not insured or underinsured, which applies whether the policyholder was in their own vehicle at the time of the incident or not.

Grossman says this means the victims could have more recourse and a deeper pool of funds to recover damages in comparison to mass-casualty attacks that do not involve a motor vehicle.

Ottawa-based insurance lawyer David Contant says while the basic minimum coverage for underinsurance situations is $200,000, it can be higher if the victims’ insurance policies included added protection to upwards of $1 million.