By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario — November 5, 2018 — A series of proposed lawsuits have been issued against six major auto insurance companies in Ontario for allegedly engaging in unfair and illegal practices with HST calculations against accident victims.
The statements claimed that Aviva, Intact, Belair, Allstate, Unifund and Certas didn’t pay HST on benefits for certain cases but included HST calculations for benefit entitlements to others.
A lawyer representing one of the claimants said that the insurers shortchanged thousands of auto-accident victims, reducing care benefits to injured individuals to boost already record profitability, Global News reported.
According to the lawsuits, Jill Nicholson was one of the accident victims being treated ‘unfairly. Nicholson was hit by a truck and claimed that her benefits had run out six years after her accident. Traumatized from her incident, she no longer has coverage for psychologist vists and only receives the minimal benefits for massage therapy.
The suit also included action against Ontario’s insurance regulator, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, for knowing about the HST issue for years and not doing anything about it.
In total the lawsuits are seeking $600 million in compensation and an injunction to prevent further alleged breaking of the rules around payments of the HST, Global News reported.
One of the lawyers also told Global News that 60,000 injuries occur every year in Ontario as a result of vehicle accidents, and that the alleged issue could be more widespread.
