Because of its complexity, civil liability is often misunderstood. However, a good knowledge of civil liability pays off, since it affects each and every one of us in our daily lives, whether at home, at a friend\u2019s house, or as a driver, cyclist or pedestrian. Here are five things you should know about civil liability.<\/p>\n
Civil liability can be summarized as follows: you will be held civilly liable if your actions or an object or person in your care causes harm to someone and there is a direct link between the fault and the injury caused.<\/p>\n
However, for you to be held liable for an act, the victim needs to prove that:<\/a><\/p>\n To establish fault, perceived harm is not sufficient for a claim to be admissible. Jurisprudence, or previous court decisions that serve as a common denominator for future legal cases, is used to guide these types of judgments. The most important thing to remember is that the concept of fault is constantly evolving based on the various situations that arise.<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve established the theory, let\u2019s take a look at some examples of civil liability in practice!<\/p>\n In Quebec, civil liability car insurance protects drivers when they are at fault and covers property damage and bodily injury to a third party (if it is not covered by the SAAQ). If you are not at fault, your property damage could also be covered through civil liability insurance under a direct compensation agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n To operate a motor vehicle in Quebec, all vehicle owners must hold a civil liability insurance policy of at least $50,000.<\/strong> Although this is the legal limit, experience has shown that it is nowhere near enough, regardless of what you use your vehicle for. Instead, you should purchase $2,000,000 in liability coverage if you are eligible.<\/p>\n Imagine the following nightmare scenario: you lose control of your vehicle, collide with a building and cause a fire that spreads to other structures. While this type of situation is disturbing to consider, don\u2019t make the mistake of thinking it only happens to others. It\u2019s not hard to imagine the astronomical amount of property damage involved\u2026<\/p>\n Outside of Quebec, the risk is even greater. In addition to property damage, civil liability insurance also covers bodily injury. For example, if you hit a pedestrian in the United States, you will almost certainly be sued. A higher liability limit protects you in the event of an accident (though not if you commit a criminal offence).<\/p>\n To provide a concrete example, you and your family rent a waterfront cottage. You light a campfire and the wind picks up. You suddenly lose control of the fire, which spreads to the neighbouring property and burns down the cottage next door. Luckily, the neighbours are out that evening, so there are no serious injuries. However, the total damage to their second home is $1.2\u00a0million (it\u2019s a very nice cottage!). The owners also claim $100,000 for loss of use, since they are unable to visit their cottage that summer. What does your civil liability insurance cover?<\/p>\n Your insurance covers the total of $1.3\u00a0million, as well as the investigative and legal fees (on top of your coverage limit).<\/p>\n This example illustrates the importance of civil liability coverage that is not limited to one place!<\/p>\n To conclude, it is crucial to consider civil liability insurance and ensure you have the right coverage based on your circumstances. If you have any questions or concerns, don\u2019t hesitate to contact one of our brokers. It will be our pleasure to assist you. After all, it\u2019s our area of expertise! Contact us now.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Because of its complexity, civil liability is often misunderstood. However, a good knowledge of civil liability pays off, since it affects each and every one of us in our daily lives, whether at home, at a friend\u2019s house, or as a driver, cyclist or pedestrian. Here are five things you should know about civil liability. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[535],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","sector-personal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lareau.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
2. Examples where you may be liable<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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3. Civil liability car insurance in Quebec<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
4. Civil liability and home insurance<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
5. The most common misconceptions<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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