PUBLICATIONS

Diminished value claims for property damage to automobiles are statutorily barred by section 263 of the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. I.8. At least that is what section 263 of the Insurance Act appeared to do. However, Ontario insurers have long been plagued by persistent claims, especially in the Small Claims Court. All of the actual reported decisions dismissed these claims, but the decisions tended to be fact-specific. Without any clear decisions by a higher Court, new claims would arise with some new variation of the diminished value argument.