Insurance dispute dismissed over missing documents

A $171,000 insurance dispute centred around the aftermath of a carport fire in Port Coquitlam ended up being dismissed in B.C. Supreme Court recently.

Following a fire at their Pitt River Road home and subsequent repair work, Eugenie Bruce, Bruce Brereton and Karen Brereton claimed they suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and filed an insurance. After that claim wasn’t settled, the plaintiffs sued three insurance companies as well as several repair companies.

The plaintiffs asked for $66,000 for damages caused by the fire and $35,000 each for carbon monoxide poisoning.

The insurance companies submitted that they paid the plaintiffs $32,000 for house repairs.

In December of 2023, the plaintiffs – who were acting on their own behalf – were ordered to supply a list of documents by Jan. 31, 2024.

After failing to meet that deadline, Brereton claimed his email address had been compromised and he couldn’t get emails.

On March 28, Brereton explained the delays were due to medical reasons, adding that the documents would be provided by April 5.

“This did not happen,” noted Justice Carla Forth.

On April 29, Brereton said the final documents would be received within days.

As of May, the defendants said they hadn’t received the documents. In June, a different B.C. Supreme Court Justice dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim.

The plaintiffs subsequently moved to have their claim reinstated.

In her ruling, Justice Forth noted the court can correct a clerical mistake at any time. However, there was no mistake in this dismissal, she wrote.

Brereton said he was incapable of going to the June 2024 strike application due to a medical condition.

“He initially claimed that there were medical records set out in his affidavit,” Forth wrote. “I pointed out to Mr. Brereton that there were no medical records attached as exhibits.”

After lunch break at the court, Brereton produced a document from his family doctor, stating he’d been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy in April 2024.

In explaining her reasons for dismissing the claim, Forth noted Brereton had several email exchanges with counsel for the insurance companies and didn’t advise them of any serious medical condition, nor that he wouldn’t attend the scheduled strike application in June 2024.

“He did not make arrangements for someone else to attend to seek an adjournment,” Forth wrote. “He did not seek to phone in to advise that he was medically incapacitated.”

Forth dismissed the application.