TD Insurance reaches $5.1 million settlement in pandemic related trip cancellation class action
-
Loading... - Olivia Taylor
- 02 Nov 2022
- 138 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
An insurance division at one of the country’s largest banks has agreed to settle a $10-million class-action lawsuit accusing it of wrongly denying COVID-related trip cancellation claims — and industry experts say it could spark a flood of similar deals.
The suit against TD Insurance, which provides credit card-based insurance policies, was filed on behalf of a Toronto man who’d booked a flight to Italy and Mediterranean cruise with his family. The man cancelled the cruise March 5, 2020, just days before the Italian government imposed a countrywide quarantine. The company initially rejected many travel cancellation claims because most airlines had offered vouchers or credits for trips cancelled because of the pandemic, despite that condition not appearing in policies, the suit had argued.
In a deal reached after mediation between the two sides, TD Insurance agreed to pay out $5.1 million, including $300,000 in costs. The deal must still be approved at a court hearing in February.
A spokesperson for TD Insurance declined to comment, as did law firms acting on behalf of the man who initially filed the suit, Kevin Lyons.
Joseph Campisi, an adjunct professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, said the proposed settlement is likely just the first of many against travel insurance companies stemming from the pandemic.
“I’m expecting there will be a lot more cases like this, and this is a decent model for settling them,” said Campisi, who specializes in insurance law.
Campisi estimated that 97 to 99 per cent of all insurance litigation ends in a settlement rather than going to trial. Read More...
