Case information

Judgments and orders — Judgment rendered in course of proceeding — Leave to appeal — Judicial pyrrhotite saga involving professional liability of persons associated with defective construction of buildings — Landmark judgment rendered in 2020, and second wave of claims currently before courts — Professional insurers of respondent SNC Lavalin Inc., one of defendants in saga, denying coverage — Grounds of defence deemed unfounded at trial, and leave to appeal denied — Panel of same court denying review of judgment on leave to appeal — Whether application for leave to appeal raises issue of public importance.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

In the course of the judicial pyrrhotite saga, professionals involved in the construction of defective buildings were held liable in a landmark judgment rendered in 2020. To execute the judgment, the many insurers of SNC Lavalin Inc. — a respondent before the Court but a defendant in the saga — were ordered to apportion among themselves the damages in connection with the liability of the company. In the present case, the second wave of the saga is at issue, that is, three policy periods subsequent to those dealt with in the landmark judgment (2013, 2014 and 2015). The second wave also concerns a sub-category of residential claims called 2B. The applicant, Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance Company, denied coverage under the 2010 2011, 2011 2012, 2012 2013, 2013 2014 and 2014 2015 insurance towers of SNC Lavalin Inc. The trial judge did not accept Allianz’s grounds for denial of coverage and found that Allianz could not deny its obligation to indemnify in this matter. A Court of Appeal judge denied leave to appeal that judgment, and later, a panel of three members of that same court refused to intervene to review or revoke the denial of leave to appeal.