Combine at dusk

Combine at dusk

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Saskatchewan Court rules hail crop insurance umpire's findings not biased

The Provincial Court of Saskatchewan, Civil Division, has dismissed the claim of a farmer that a decision on crop loss suffered as a result of hail was tainted by bias and impartiality. John DeBalinhard, a farmer in the Rural Municipality of Orkney, made an insurance claim to the defendant in the case, Butler Byers Hail Insurance Ltd., after hail damaged a canola crop on his property. When DeBalinhard disputed the loss as assessed by the defendant, an umpire was appointed by the Saskatchewan Superintendent of Insurance to re-assess the claim and make an award of compensation.

DeBalinhard commenced the court claim when he was dissatisfied with the award made by the umpire. He alleged that the award was considerably lower than compensation paid out by two other insurance companies on the same crops on different properties and alleged that the umpire's decision had been tainted by "bias, interest, or lack of impartiality".

In the end, the Court found that the umpire's award was made within his authority under the applicable legislation and that there was no evidence of bias or impartiality. Based on this, the Court found that the award was binding on DeBalinhard, and therefore did not examine the allegations that other insurers had paid out significantly more for the same loss.

Read the decision at: http://www.canlii.org/en/sk/skpc/doc/2010/2010skpc13/2010skpc13.html

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