Problem: The insurer will not pay?
Situation: Can you make a claim under your parent’s insurance policy if you have a party at your parent’s house and someone is injured?
Most homeowners in Ottawa maintain home insurance. It’s a requirement of any residential mortgage from Royal Bank, Scotia Bank, BMO, TD or any of the chartered banks. Such broad form policies usually cover the kind of injury that would occur to a guest at your party. But what if you held the party next door at mom’s house? You and mom are close (even if she’s in the nursing home and you’re partying at her house). Somebody is injured at mom’s house during your party. You make a claim under your parent’s insurance because you say that you are ‘living in the same household’. Not really true but it might be true enough to trigger the policy.
This is what the Ontario Superior Court motion judge Hebner determined. He required mom’s insurer to pay for the injury. The Ontario Court of Appeal rejected the idea that the son was ‘living in the same household’. The Court of Appeal said that ‘household’ in the insurance context, is a type of personal relationship not a physical residence.
People should keep in mind that while broad form insurance policies generally cover the kinds of accidents that happen in homes, you don’t get the same protections from mom’s insurance at her house.
The case is Ferro v. Weiner Estate 2019 ONCA 55
