Cases
Representative Work: Insurance Coverage
Defense: Defense against a claim following a fire in an apartment building on the argument that that the policy was voided ab initio after a mechanical workshop had been found in the building, revealing an undeclared commercial activity. Proving the knowledge of the risk by the insured was difficult as he was not a resident of the building
claimed to be unaware of the activity of one of the tenants.
Policy voided ab initio because of the insured's links to criminal activities
organized crime.
Application to compel the insurer to provide a defense (Wellington) - Denial of the application because of the absence of material damage
occurrence, as defined in CGL's insurance policy.
Builder's risk insurance in construction matters - Case having required a three-day hearing on the foreseeability of damages. The Court applied the exclusion clause for faulty workmanship.
Arson in a grocery store causing $1.4 million in damages - The Court ruled that a serious, precise
concordant presumption led to the conclusion that the insured was involved in the arson. The evidence highlighted several technical
expert elements on the alarm system, surveillance cameras
the substantial quantity of fire accelerants, as well as the unique occasion (motive)
financial gain in collecting an insurance indemnity.
Fraudulent Insurance claims - Numerous fraud insurance cases such as simulated accidents
thefts
exaggerated claims.
Professional Liability: Represented an engineer with respect to a claim made by our client's co-defendant for contribution of $1.9 million. The claim was denied for lack of causation
absence of fault: the co-defendant did not have legal st
ing to sue another professional having worked on the project since there was no legal relationship between the parties.
Alleged error in lot description in a condominium development project. The plaintiff alleged that the notary had failed to use reasonable care in performing his task, thereby causing the promoter to lose a business opportunity.
Dessercom inc. c. Dubreuil, 2010 QCCS 5383 (CanLII) -.Contestation of document authenticity - A defendant claimed that the notary had failed to properly express the parties' intent when drafting the warranty clause in the contract for sale of a building..
Alleged undue influence
incapacity of testator. Gilbert proved that these allegations were unfounded: the Court confirmed the validity of the notarial will.
Summary rejection of a claim because of prescription - The plaintiff was seeking to thwart the prescription by amending his original claim to add a co-defendant
raising the co-defendants' in solidum liability. The Court denied the amendment for cause of prescription.
Product liability: - Case raising the duty to inform
resting on expert evidence on the st
ard of care in the installation of oil production equipment.
Subrogation: in condo towers water infiltration due to flawed design
latent defects. 300 co-owners against all COC defendants. Settled after 2 day mediation, 55 parties total. Estimated trial length: 3 months
Risk management: on coverage & liability exposure re-assessment in the context of a 1G commercial arbitrationdealing with job site change of conditions, overrun costs, LDs, costs of rework, flawed design, etc. to overall assess coverage
assist in monitoring
bringing claim to final closure
Latent Defect 120M COC claim: for a large housing project in Kativik Northern Quebec:n3000units allegedly affected by construction deficiencies, refurbished for the Quebec inuit community in 12 villages located in Kativik, multi-party suit involving n 30 parties
Host-Liquor, Bar/host programs: several cases involving arson, fraud, misrepresentation on material facts at policy inception, risk aggravation
ab inito nullity of policies.
