INSURANCE ISSUES
A claim for diminished value of a vehicle repaired after an accident is not covered under Section C of the Alberta Standard Auto Policy, SPF No. 1.
Dion v Security National Insurance Company, 2018 ABPC 242
FACTS AND ISSUES:
The Plaintiff Dion was insured by the Defendant, Security National Insurance Company (SNIC) pursuant to an Alberta Standard Automobile Policy S.P.F. No. 1, which provided insurance coverage to the Dion for a 2008 Cadillac Escalade SUV. Dion, while driving the insured vehicle, was involved in a collision with a moose on September 6, 2015, between Fox Creek and Valleyview, Alberta. Dion's vehicle was damaged, and SNIC undertook and paid for repairs to the vehicle. Dion claimed that the repairs done to the vehicle were inadequate, and also claimed that he had suffered additional loss by way of diminished value of his vehicle as a result of it having been involved in this accident. He also claimed for additional mileage, other travel expenses and car rental expenses.
SNIC brought an application for summary dismissal of the claim for diminished value. They argued that the policy did not provide coverage for diminished value of the SUV. Specifically, they relied on Statutory Condition 4(5) which provides as follows:
The issue was as to whether or not a claim for diminished value was an insured loss under Section C of the SPF No. 1.
SNIC also sought to pre-emptively prevent Dion's expert on diminished value (Grieve) from being qualified to give expert evidence, arguing that his evidence had been not been accepted in previous cases and that he had a financial interest in the outcome of the case.
HELD: For the Defendant Insurer; claim for diminished value summarily dismissed.
The Court held that a claim for diminished value of a vehicle repaired after a collision is excluded from coverage under Section C of the SPF No. 1:
The Court declined to find that Dion's expert was not qualified:
1. The Court found that even if an expert has been disqualified previously, or may have a financial interest in the outcome, that does not meant that an expert should be disqualified from giving evidence in subsequent litigation:
2. Also, the Court held that a motions judge's role is not to weigh evidence or assess credibility.
COMMENTARY:
Given the relatively small quantum of these claims, the only published cases involving Diminished Value in Alberta have been before the Provincial Court. Judges in these decisions have approached the quantification of Diminished Value in a number of ways. The Hon. Judge Skitsko has awarded damages for diminished value based on a trifurcation of this head of damages into three distinct types of damages:
- Inherent diminished value;
- Repair-related diminished value; and
- Insurance diminished value.
While he has rejected claims for inherent diminished value and insurancerelated diminished value, Judge Skitsko has awarded repair related diminished value in all of his reported decisions. Those repair-related damages have been assessed in each case based on Judge Skitsko's consideration of a plurality of factors, including the severity of the damage done to a vehicle in an accident, the nature of the repairs performed to that vehicle and that vehicle's actual cash value.
In an appeal to one of Judge Skitskos rulings, Justice Crighton explained that Diminished Value is a single head of special damages that must be proven by appropriate expert evidence. Those damages cannot, as is the case with general damages, be calculated by a judge based on a consideration of a plurality of factors.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.