The Divisional Court upheld the Ontario Small Claims Court ruling that dismissed a claim by a car owner who was seeking to recover the loss in value of their car following a collision with the vehicle operated by the at-fault defendant.
The Ontario Insurance Act bans owners and their insurers from commencing lawsuits to recover vehicular damage caused while the being operated in Ontario, such that all such claims must be dealt with at the insurance level. But the Plaintiff in this instance argued that the wording of the Ontario Insurance Act did not include a ban on diminution of value claims (something the plaintiff argued was different than a property damage claim). The Small Claims Court judge disagreed, and so too did the appellate court. Simply put, the appellate court held that the term “damages to the insured’s automobile,” as used in the Ontario Insurance Act “is a broad enough term to include any diminution in value to a vehicle which might result from a collision.”
Gordon-Taitt v. Travelers Canada Corp. and Jennifer Polak, 2022 ONSC 712
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc712/2022onsc712.html