‘Surface Water’ Commercial Coverage Dispute Could Reach Supreme Court Of Canada

A $429,000 commercial property coverage dispute involving overflow from a body of water could reach Canada’s top court.

The Supreme Court of Canada announced Nov. 6 that the Co-operators wants to appeal Le Treport Wedding & Convention Centre Ltd. v. Co-operators General Insurance Company, released July 28, 2020 by the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

It all began with Canada’s fifth most-expensive insured catastrophe on July 8, 2013, when the western Greater Toronto area got about 90 mm of rain in an hour.

One of the affected properties was Le Treport, located in Mississauga, Ont., in a plaza on the northwest corner of Queensway and Stanfield Rd. About 600 metres to the east is Tonelli Creek, which flows south towards the Queensway and then underground south of the Queensway.

About half an hour after the rain started, water started flowing west along Queensway into the plaza parking lot and into the banquet hall through the doors. It was also coming in through the ceiling and up through floor drains, Justice Peter Lauwers wrote for the Court of Appeal for Ontario.