Intro And Why Borders Matter

Warren Berg 0:00

Good morning and welcome to the March edition of Ask the Lawyer on Windspeaker Radio across Alberta on CFWE and CJWE. I'm your host, Warren Berg, and joining us again this month are Cynthia Carels and Shelagh McGregor of Weir Bowen LLP in Edmonton.

Cynthia Carels 0:13

It's great to be back, Warren, as we're slowly inching our way out of winter.

Shelagh McGregor 0:17

Happy to be here.

Warren Berg 0:18

Weir Bowen is an Edmonton-based law firm. However, their lawyers have represented clients across Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, and have been counsel in precedent-setting cases all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Cynthia Carels 0:31

And actually that's a great way to introduce what we want to talk about today, Warren, because at Weir Bowen, we do get a lot of questions from people about things that happen outside of Alberta, in places like BC, Saskatchewan, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, you know, and other jurisdictions, uh especially like Saskatchewan. So we thought today's show would be a good one to talk about some of the things we have to consider when our clients have a legal problem that doesn't just occur within the borders of Alberta.

Shelagh McGregor 0:58

And Lloyd minster is a classic example because it's literally a border town. There's all sorts of issues that can arise when motor vehicle collisions happen there, for example, or if someone receives negligent medical treatment from a doctor or at the hospital in Lloyd minster, sometimes what side of the intersection someone was on can make all the difference.

Cynthia Carels 1:16

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, you know, and different provinces mean different laws are going to apply, and there can actually be some pretty big differences in those laws. So that's what we're going to focus on today. What uh sorts of things need to be considered when we have these interprovincial or interjurisdictional issues.

Warren Berg 1:34

And Shelagh, you'd mentioned a negligent medical treatment, and I understand that's a really big area of practice for the lawyers that we're Boeing.

Shelagh McGregor 1:40

It definitely is. Over the course of the last 10 years or so, we've reached out to law firms across the country who do medical negligence law. And we've realized that our medical negligence team is the largest in Western Canada for sure, and possibly the whole country.

Cynthia Carels 1:54

Yeah, I I think one of the reasons why we have one of the largest, if not the largest, medical malpractice group in Canada is that we actually have a lot of lawyers who are very experienced in this area, and that attracts other lawyers to come and work with Warry Borwin as well. Uh, for example, our lawyers and the firm itself are the only ones in Edmonton who have been recognized by uh um a publication known as Lexpert, and that is um uh a well-known publication in the legal industry for expertise in medical negligence working for plaintiffs. And there's no other law firm in Edmonton that has lawyers who are recognized in that category. Uh, there's also another publication known as Best Lawyers in Canada, and they have recognized five of our lawyers at Weirbowen as the best lawyers in Canada for medical negligence work. And we're very, very proud of that because uh both of those lists are based on peer reviews. That is, other lawyers in the industry who are actually saying these are the go-to people for that kind of work.

Shelagh McGregor 2:55

And on top of that, we also have a very strong personal injury team for things like motor vehicle collisions and slips and falls, that sort of thing. Cynthia has been recognized for years by these rankings as a go-to person for personal injury work.

Cynthia Carels 3:07

Yeah, and Sheila uh also has been recognized for medical negligence and personal injury work. Uh, and for the last three years, three different lawyers in our firm have actually been named lawyer of the year for personal injury litigation by best lawyers. So uh Joe Miller in 2019, 2021, and 2024. So, you know, he's always topping the list there. Uh Sheila has been named as the lawyer of the year in 2022 and 2025. And then another one of our partners, Liz McGuinness, was recognized in 2023. Uh, and then this year, uh David DeVere of our firm was also named as lawyer of the year in the world of medical negligence, uh, both in 2026 as well as back in 2023. So we're very, very proud of the extent of knowledge in our firm in personal injury generally, and then in this medical malpractice world more specifically.

Shelagh McGregor 3:57

And that knowledge is particularly important when you've been injured in a jurisdiction other than Alberta. So today we're going to talk about a number of challenging issues that arise when people are injured in foreign jurisdictions.

Warren Berg 4:09

So when we talk about foreign jurisdictions, what exactly do we mean by that?

Shelagh McGregor 4:13

Well, when a potential new client calls us, there are two really important questions we immediately ask. Number one, when did your injury happen? And two, where did your injury happen? Because if your injury did not happen in Alberta, then we need to figure out what the law of the land would be that applies to your claim, the jurisdiction where your potential claim uh would be litigated.

Cynthia Carels 4:36

So our team at Weirbowen handles a lot of injury claims, obviously within the confines of Alberta. So, you know, we're up to speed on the back of our hand. We can tell you about the applicable laws that are going to govern personal injury claims, you know, regardless of whether it happens in Lethbridge or in Fort McMurray or anywhere in between. But once we get outside of Alberta, it's a different story. Uh, for example, the laws of insurance or the laws of limitation periods, uh, they can be very different and they're determined by each individual province. And we have a real patchwork of legislation regarding bodily injury claims, even if a potential client has never left Canada.

Warren Berg 5:14

So let's say if the injury happens in Saskatoon, does that mean you have to have gone to law school in both jurisdictions?

Shelagh McGregor 5:21

In general, a law degree from the Universal University of Alberta is recognized in other provinces and territories. For example, one of our lawyers, Mike McVeigh, is a member of the law societies of both Alberta and the Northwest Territories. A lawyer who's with a recognized law degree can become a lawyer by articling in the Northwest Territories, which is essentially an apprenticeship, or by articling in another province and then applying to become a member of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories. Mike had to have another lawyer who is a member of the Northwest Territories uh also vouch for him and apply to the court for admission. That is more of a ceremony or formality, and those applications are generally not rejected, but it is one of the few places in Canada where they still have individual ceremonies in court to admit you to the bar.

Cynthia Carels 6:08

Now, thankfully, a lot of work has been done in recent years to improve the mobility of Canadian lawyers to offer legal services in other provinces and territories. The Federation of Law Societies of Alberta realized that there was a need to break down interprovincial barriers for lawyers to be able to practice in more than one jurisdiction. So we actually now have national and territorial mobility agreements that govern mobility of lawyers between all of what we call the common law provinces in Canada. Now, we'll talk about that in a bit because it's not to be mistaken for the fact that all the law is common across Canada. Um, but under these agreements, lawyers in the common law provinces can temporarily practice for up to a hundred days a year in any other common law province as long as they maintain a current license in their home jurisdiction. Uh so one of our medical negligence lawyers, Dave DeVere, for example, practices quite a bit in Saskatchewan because there are not many medical malpractice lawyers there.

Warren Berg 7:04

So let's go back to uh, Cynthia, what you'd mentioned, common law jurisdiction. What exactly is that?

Common Law Versus Legislation

Cynthia Carels 7:09

Yeah, no, that's an excellent question. And to explain it, we have to do a little bit of a history lesson to explain what common law uh even is in the first place. I'm sure lots of people have heard it, you know, even in the context of, you know, a common law partner, for example. Uh so when people think about the law generally, you know, a lot of people probably think about libraries filled with dusty old books, you know, with the big ladders you have to climb up on to get access to something from, you know, 1492 or whatever. Um and uh you know, that would have the law that's written out in black and white. Uh and some of the law, to be fair, is exactly that. That's you know what we call legislation. That's where laws are written by the government, and and thankfully now we uh can look up legislation online, so those dusty old books generally will stay on the shelves and just look pretty now. Uh but common law is not actually codified in handy lists of rules uh and regulations like legislation is. Common law is a system that has evolved over time based on previous cases that have been decided by judges. That's commonly known as precedent law. And these precedents become guides that help us to figure out how a court might actually decide a similar case to the one that we're litigating.

Shelagh McGregor 8:23

So sometimes you'll hear the phrase judge-made law bandied about, especially when judges make a decision that results in a new legal doctrine being applied to a specific set of facts. As lawyers, one of our big jobs is to stay up to date on the latest court decisions in our specific practice areas in the jurisdictions where we practice law, because these kinds of precedents can really impact the way we handle our files and the likelihood of success for our clients.

Warren Berg 8:50

So, can you give me maybe an example of a situation where common law has become an issue in the kinds of cases that you typically handle at Weir Bowen?

Cynthia Carels 8:57

Yeah, for sure. So a really good illustration we can use specific to Alberta to illustrate the difference between legislation and common law is a piece of legislation known as the minor injury regulation. And this is of particular interest to people who have been injured in car crashes. Now, the minor injury regulation itself was introduced by the Alberta government back in 2004, and the intent of that regulation was to limit compensation for less severe injuries that were arising from motor vehicle accidents. And at the time, lawmakers were attempting to balance the rights of injury victims without increasing the cost of insurance. And the political goal was to deliver Albertans' lower insurance premiums. So the conservative government at that time was anxious to develop legislation that could limit payouts to active accident victims with sort of run-of-the-mill injuries like sprains and strains and whiplash.

Shelagh McGregor 10:00

You're absolutely right. Yes, that's happening again. So the government has recently made further changes to the auto insurance regime in Alberta to move away from a court-based system and towards an administrative system called no fault insurance. That is a discussion for another show because we have all sorts of concerns about that change taking away benefits from innocent victims and handing benefits out to negligent wrongdoers. But you're correct that further changes have definitely been made to insurance laws in Alberta.

Cynthia Carels 10:30

Yeah, so but circling back to this minor injury regulation from 2004, once it was actually finalized and passed into law, the intent of it was to cap the pain and suffering awards for those kinds of injuries at about $4,000 in $2004. So this legislation actually really disrupted personal injury work in Alberta. And as lawyers, we wanted to see how the courts were going to interpret and apply this new piece of legislation. And this is where common law springs into action. So, you know, at that time I was working at a different firm and we ended up with a backlog of files in our system that the insurance companies were claiming were now capped by this piece of legislation. But we thought they should fall outside the cap because some of our clients had, you know, pretty serious consequences, even though their injuries were, you know, not broken bones or or, you know, paraplegia or something like that. So for example, we had some clients with whiplash associated disorders who were actually stuck with permanent problems after an accident, and insurers were insisting those claims were minor injuries, uh, even though the effects on our clients were anything but minor. And it took until 2012 for a case on this 24 uh or sor 2004 legislation to actually make it to the court so that lawyers would have a precedent to guide our assessments of these kinds of claims. And that case is known as Sparohawk and Zaplatinsky. And in that case, the court provided the legal community with judge made insight as to what the minor injury regulation actually meant. And that judge's decision in that case became the foundation of our arguments ever since. So it's a common law uh uh piece of law when we try to now get our injured clients' claims outside of that cap. And so that's a really good example of how the common law or judge made law works alongside actual legislation.

Warren Berg 12:20

So if a lawyer wants to give legal advice about an injury that might have happened in a different jurisdiction than the one that they're living in, how can they possibly keep up with both the legislation and the common law? That sounds almost impossible.

Shelagh McGregor 12:33

You're right, it's not easy. And even when a common law lawyer is practicing in another common law pro province, it definitely takes a lot of legal research to get up to speed. But as long as it's another common law province, generally a lot of the law is similar and it is possible to adjust to the differences if need be. However, the province of Quebec is not a common law jurisdiction. That province has its own set of rules called the Civil Code, which is actually based on the French Napoleonic Code. So it's another piece of legislation that sets out a comprehensive set of rules to deal with civil disputes, so non-criminal disputes. Most lawyers outside of Quebec don't learn about the civil code in law school. So it's pretty rare for a common law lawyer to seek out practice rights in Quebec. It's a totally different legal system. For the most part, if someone is injured in a different jurisdiction, we will try to help potential clients find a lawyer who actively practices in that jurisdiction. That's generally a lot more efficient for everyone involved rather than trying to do a bunch of legal research to get up to speed. However, we are finding that our assistance is sought a lot more in the Northwest Territories in Saskatchewan because there aren't a lot of lawyers in those jurisdictions who work in the narrower areas we work in, like medical malpractice or disability insurance claims.

Cynthia Carels 13:50

Yeah, but with that said, there are still a lot of issues that we're gonna want to touch on today that specifically relate to our Alberta listeners involving injuries that they might sustain that happen in foreign jurisdictions. So to set out a bit of a roadmap, we're gonna want to touch on three main things today. Uh, the first thing is consideration of your insurance coverage before you ever leave Alberta. Uh, number two, we're going to talk about lawsuits that arise from claims that our clients make to their insurers that have been denied by an insurance company. Uh, and then three, we're gonna talk about some of the quirky interprovincial arrangements for insurance law that actually govern what Albertans can claim and from whom they can claim if they actually do get injured in other provinces.

Roadmap Disclaimer And Contact

Shelagh McGregor 14:35

But before we get into this in too much much depth, we want to underscore that this information is not intended to be legal advice. Everything we say during this program is intended to be information for your listeners and hopefully will raise some awareness from the listeners about their rights. But for anyone who has questions specific to their individual cases, it's really important to speak with a lawyer directly because the facts of the situation can really affect the advice that you get.

Warren Berg 15:06

Okay, so now before we get too deep into today's topic, this is probably a good time to tell our listeners how they can get in touch with you. Should they need to talk to a lawyer about their injuries, what is the best way to connect with you?

Cynthia Carels 15:16

So the easiest way is to check out our website at we're bowen.com. So that's w e-irboen.com. And on our contact us page, there's a form that you can fill in, and our reception staff will make sure that your inquiry gets to the right place.

Warren Berg 15:32

So what if the internet isn't an option?

Shelagh McGregor 15:34

We also frequently take uh what we call cold calls. So if you just call our main reception line at 780-424-2030, you'll be directed to the right person.

Warren Berg 15:45

This is Asked the Lawyer on Windspeaker Radio, C FWE and CJWE. I'm your host, Warren Berg, and joining us today are Sheila McGregor and Cynthia Carrolls of Weird Bowen, L L P and Edmonton. Once again, that's W E I R B O W E N. Their phone number is 780-424-2030. You can also see them online at Wearbowen.com. Now, we were talking about today's topic, which is injuries in foreign jurisdictions. And by foreign, I guess we even mean injuries that happen in exotic destinations like sunny Saskatchewan.

Cynthia Carels 16:19

Yes, indeed. So before our listeners buckle up for a sojourn to Saskatoon, uh, or if they book a flight to St. Lucia, it's a good idea to take a moment to give some thought uh as to what might happen to you if you or a family member got hurt while you were away. And preparing to leave your home jurisdiction really should involve taking inventory of your available insurance coverages. Now it's a bit of a downer when you're planning for a nice vacation, but uh. Now, neither Sheila nor I are insurance brokers, so we aren't going to be giving anyone advice regarding what kind of insurance coverage is is going to be right for you. Because truly there is no one size fits all kind of coverage that's right for everyone.

Shelagh McGregor 17:05

And for people with employee benefit plans, it's a good idea to look at your benefits booklet to see if you have coverage in terms of emergency response, ambulance transport, which can be to the closest hospital, but may also involve professional medical transport transport back home to your home jurisdiction in the case of a catastrophic injury. Um, that employee benefits plan might also include different coverages for hospital rooms, inpatient and outpatient services, medications, assistive devices, and mobility aids like crutches or wheelchairs. And in addition to that, you can also look at your coverage for disability pay should you be injured while on vacation. On top of employee benefits plans, you might have some coverage through your credit card. They often have some form of insurance for travel. So it's a good idea to look into that as well. And, you know, these are these are important things to know because sometimes people can get catastrophically injured or even pass away while they're away from home. And the costs for getting back home can be quite expensive.

Warren Berg 18:09

Now, not to make too light of this, but getting injured or dying on vacation sounds expensive.

Cynthia Carels 18:14

Yeah, no, it really can be. Uh, so honestly, I cannot underscore how important it is to have appropriate coverage in place before you go. And if you don't have employee benefits, or even if you do, we would still encourage you to speak with a licensed insurance broker to make sure that you have a plan in place that's right for you and your family. Uh, you know, speaking of dying on vacation, I did have a family contact me about a struggle that they're having with a life insurance policy their loved one had through their employer. Unfortunately, it appears that the individual had not updated his beneficiaries in many years. And when he died, the policy had to be paid out to someone who he had not been involved with for more than five years. Uh, so this is just a gentle reminder to make sure you have a really good understanding of what your coverage is and to keep your paperwork up to date before you leave the jurisdiction.

Shelagh McGregor 19:05

So, and while our listeners have their filing cabinets open to review their benefits booklets and their beneficiary designations, it's also a good idea to make sure that your other paperwork is up to date and you know who the people are named as your executor, your trustee, your attorney, and that they know that you've named them as those roles and where the documents for your power of attorney, your personal directive, and your will are should the need arise for them to use those.

Cynthia Carels 19:35

Yeah, I can still remember helping a family through a terrible time in their lives where their father was actually catastrophically injured in a plane crash, departed from Alberta, but the plane crash happened in the States, and the adult kids had always relied on dad to be sort of the family administrator, the one who took care of all the paperwork. And no one else knew where to find any of the important documents that they needed to help when their dad was injured. Uh, thankfully, their dad's company where they were employed was quite helpful, at least in terms of working with us to get um coverage for a family member to fly down to Texas to be with him and ultimately to arrange for his transport back to Canada.

Warren Berg 20:11

Okay, so let's assume our listeners have followed your excellent recommendations to get all of this coverage and paperwork in order before they go away. What can still go wrong?

Travel Insurance Denials And Disputes

Shelagh McGregor 20:20

So our hope is that nothing goes wrong, obviously. We want our vacations to be all positive. Um, and that if you spend money on insurance coverage for various things, that just buys you peace of mind and nothing else beyond that. But when people do get injured or killed and need to turn to their insurance company for coverage, unfortunately, it doesn't always go smoothly and people like us need to help people out sometimes. We have a group of experienced lawyers at Weirbowen who have very busy practices litigating claims associated with denials of insurance coverage.

Cynthia Carels 20:53

So even if your injury occurs, let's say while you're surfing in California, uh, if your contract of insurance was formed and purchased in the province of Alberta, then Alberta legislation and common law is going to cover in that contract. And these contracts can be really tricky to interpret. Um, you know, I can even remember personally when my family and I were injured in a car crash back in Maui in 2019, it was quite a job to figure out what we were actually entitled to when the rubber hit the road. And there were a surprising number of exclusions and carve-outs in our travel insurance policies and our auto insurance policies that had me scratching my head, and I have to interpret these contracts all the time.

Warren Berg 21:34

So, what leads people to contact Weir Bowen if they have an insurance claim denied for an injury that they may have had out of province?

Shelagh McGregor 21:41

One of the most common reasons a travel insurance claim is denied is because of improper disclosure of pre existing medical conditions when the person applied for the policy. It doesn't even need to be an intentional omission or mischaracterization of your medical conditions. In fact, it is usually f an inadvertent or careless error during the application process. But insurance contracts are supposed to be entered into under the principle of utmost good faith. And that means that the parties must be honest with each other and not hide or misrepresent any information that is relevant to the contract. Back in 2014, the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada did a survey of over a thousand snowbirds and discovered that 18% of respondents had inadvertently provided inaccurate information on their travel health insurance forms.

Cynthia Carels 22:35

And that same survey found that 14% of respondents had deliberately provided inaccurate health information on their applications, hoping that they would get a lower rate for their coverage. And for anyone who is listening today who has considered that strategy, please don't. It can really torpedo your ability to sue on these contracts if you have not been honest. And even if the reason that you're making a claim is completely unrelated to the condition you've failed to accurately disclose, it can be an insurmountable hurdle to try to cross.

Warren Berg 23:06

Now, aren't a lot of these insurance products sold over the phone or over the internet? It's not like most people actually get a form that they can take to their doctor's office to make sure that they've accurately described every medical condition they may have had in their life. It just seems like the chances of accidentally making a mistake are pretty big.

Shelagh McGregor 23:24

Yeah, I think you're right. Uh it can and does happen. Filling out forms online or over the phone can seem quick and easy, especially when people are buying a product that they hope to never use is just for peace of mind, really. Um however, for a product that could be potentially this important to you and your family, it's worthwhile to invest the time in reading and understanding the policies and associated forms and talking to a licensed insurance professional about your specific risk. And yes, it can be a very good idea to speak with your doctor before submitting your insurance application, especially if your medical history is more complicated or lengthy, they may be able to identify some red flags in your application that you can't see for yourself simply because the way you read a question is different than a way a doctor or an insurance company might read it.

Cynthia Carels 24:13

So, for an example, a number of years ago, I had a fellow reach out for advice on a travel insurance claim denial involving this very nuanced issue. So my client had stepped on some broken glass in the ocean and severed some pretty important things in his foot. And he needed emergency surgery while he was in Mexico. Now, obviously, stepping on a piece of broken glass in Mexico, not a pre-existing condition, right? Um and uh the the claim was given the preliminary go-ahead by his insurance company with the caveat that his claim would need to be reviewed in greater detail once the insurer had the opportunity to obtain access to all of this guy's medical records. And it did not take long for these medical bills to really start piling up. And he didn't have a lot of choice, obviously, but to go along with the surgery on the assumption that it was going to be covered and that he needed it emergently. But a few months after he got back to Canada, he received notification that his claim was being denied due to a misrepresentation on his application for the policy. Now here's what's wild. Uh there was a question on the policy application asking whether he had ever been diagnosed or tested for hepatitis. And he responded no to that. And to his knowledge, this was an honest answer. However, when his insurer reviewed his medical records, they discovered that his physician or his physician had previously ordered a hepatitis screen, amongst some other blood work that he was having done. And even though the results of that screen were negative for hepatitis, since he had been tested for hepatitis, the insurer claimed that he had misrepresented his health information on the application. That sounds crazy.

unknown 25:48

Yeah.

Cynthia Carels 25:49

It is.

Shelagh McGregor 25:59

One other situation where travel medical insurance can get sticky is on the issue of a medical stability requirement prior to traveling. Many policies require that any pre-existing condition must be stable for a specific period of time before you travel in order to be covered. But the definition of what stable means can be in the eye of the beholder, too.

Cynthia Carels 26:21

Okay, so another example from the from the history books here. I acted for a lovely woman a few years ago, had a uh she had a pre-existing condition that had been stable for many, many years on a particular type of medication. And her children decided to gift her an out-of-country trip for her 70th birthday. And she was so pumped about this, uh, really excited about it, but she was also really anxious that she might accidentally forget to take her medication while she was traveling. So she asked her doctor if there was any all sort of or alternative sort of uh medication administration that she could try for these meds so that she wouldn't have to worry about accidentally missing any of her doses. So her doc encouraged her to try out what's called a transdermal patch, you know, that one of those ones you put on the back of your arm, uh, to administer essentially the same medication and it only needed to be replaced once a week. And he recommended she should give the patch a try for a week, but he recommended that she do it before they go to Mexico, just in case she had any difficulties with it at all, and then they could figure all of that out before her departure. So following uh this advice, uh well over a month before her departure, she did trial the patch, and then fortunately she discovered she actually had an allergy to the adhesives. Again, nothing to do with the medication itself, just an alternative form of delivery. Uh, so she had to discontinue that trial, and she reported that back to her doctor, saying, you know, she had problems with this medication administration, and that ended up in her medical records. So between the two of them, they just decided the best plan of attack was to stick with what they knew. They put some calendar alerts into her phone for every day of her vac vacation to make sure that something uh, you know, wouldn't accidentally go wrong and that she wouldn't forget anything.

Warren Berg 27:59

And now this all seems very reasonable, but since you're telling us this story, something must have gone wrong.

Cynthia Carels 28:04

You are correct. Uh midway through this dream trip with her kids, she ended up having a heart attack that landed her in a Mexican hospital for a week before she was stable enough to be Medivac back to Canada. And as you can imagine, this was a huge bill uh that she thought was going to be covered by her travel medical insurance. Unfortunately, this one little experiment with an alternative form of delivery of medication ended up leading to an initial claim uh denial of this claim. And obviously, this was a terrible thing to have happen on top of all the stresses and anxieties already of the heart attack itself. Um, fortunately, we were able to convince the insurer this was a really bad take on the medical stability clause, and it could potentially leave them exposed to a bad faith claim over and above the damages for the breach of contract. So they reluctantly decided it was in everyone's best interest not to make this client run the case to trial.

Warren Berg 28:57

So, what can people do when their travel insurance claims are denied?

Shelagh McGregor 29:00

Well, every one of these breach of contract cases needs to be assessed on its own merits. So we would recommend you contact a lawyer to review the specifics of your own claim denial if that's the situation you find yourself in. The lawyers at Weirbowen who deal with insurance claim denials know what to look for in the contracts and the applications. They also know their way around the legislation that governs these kinds of contracts, as well as the common law precedents that we talked about earlier that can help us determine if the denial is likely to hold up in court or not.

Warren Berg 29:31

Are there any other reasons why travel medical claims might be denied?

Shelagh McGregor 29:35

Well, there's lots. Um, but another one listeners might want to review their policies for is whether their travel medical policy has any caps on the number of days of coverage. So if you're planning on being away for an extended period of time, make sure that the duration of your policy is sufficient to cover the entire visit. Don't just assume that since you have a travel insurance policy, that it will provide you with coverage for your entire time abroad. If there are time limits on your policy coverage, it's also important to consider whether or not to build in a bit of a buffer in case you decide to extend your stay, or as seems to be happening a lot more these days, you end up stuck in a foreign jurisdiction for some reason.

Warren Berg 30:15

Like a war.

Cynthia Carels 30:17

Yeah, unfortunately. Uh that is one of the reasons that we have seen as recently as the past couple of months, uh, you know, between people getting stuck in the Middle East or, you know, with the outbreak that happened in Port of Vallarta. Who would have expected that, right? Uh but international travel has been disrupted uh for all sorts of reasons. Uh cybersecurity attacks is another one that you know caused the international flight systems to crash. Um, flight cruise strikes could be another reason why you could get stuck. Uh and so when plans get disrupted unexpectedly, one of the last things you might think about is how that might be impacting your travel medical insurance. Uh now, hopefully, no one finds themselves accidentally caught in a war zone because that can create a whole a whole nother set of questions regarding travel medical insurance coverage. Um, but you know, you do you just don't want to get stuck in anything unanticipated. And I know quite a few people who were caught in Puerto Vallarta in February during the cartel violence. And it and I, you know, I don't believe that any Canadians did get hurt there, but it was scary enough that travelers were being told to shelter in place, as there was a real risk of harm at the time. Uh, but in any event, if there's just one takeaway from today's show, it's just super important to know uh that uh an insurance company's denial is not necessarily the final answer here. It's going to depend a lot on the circumstances as well as the specifics that are set out in your particular contract of insurance. So speaking to one of our lawyers at Weir Bowen is a great place to start, uh, and reaching out with your inquiry is not going to cost you anything.

Warren Berg 31:45

So, what kind of information are you looking for in that first call?

Shelagh McGregor 31:48

When or and where the injury happened is definitely our first is our starting point. Uh where the insurance contract was made, if you're calling about an insurance denial, is important as well. But there's all sorts of things we'll be asking you about. Uh things like who was responsible for the injury, if it's an injury claim, or is liability still in dispute? Um, if it's an insurance claim, do you have a copy of the insurance policy if you're calling about that? Um what injuries were sustained? Um, did the person pass away? Uh, age, occupation, income, contribution to household duties if it's an injury claim, care needs, that sort of thing.

Warren Berg 32:27

Now this sounds like a lot of information. What if somebody doesn't have all these answers?

Cynthia Carels 32:31

Aaron Powell Honestly, it's totally okay if you don't have all the answers. And if you don't, we can help you figure out what you still might need to pull together. Um, and of course, obviously whether or not there's any critical timelines you might be facing.

Warren Berg 32:42

And speaking of timelines, are there deadlines that our listeners need to know about?

Shelagh McGregor 32:46

Oh, Warren, you know that the answer is yes to that. So in Alberta, um, the Limitations Act requires lawsuits to be filed at the courthouse within two years from the date a person knew or ought to have known that someone caused them an injury. There are some exceptions to that rule. For example, minor children or adults who lack the capacity to make legal decisions for themselves. In addition, depending on the circumstances, there could be other notice obligations that apply. So, for example, there are statutory, uh, legislative notice provisions within the Municipal Governments Act that obligated injured an injured person to report the circumstances of their injury to the municipality within 21 days of it occurring.

Cynthia Carels 33:28

And of course, to further complicate things, and circling back to our topic for today, when an injury happens in a foreign jurisdiction, the rules may be very different than the rules in Alberta.

Shelagh McGregor 33:39

Absolutely. So I had a medical negligence case where the negligent care happened in Alberta, but the person died when they were on holidays in the Yukon. And that raised some very interesting issues about which province's law applied to the lawsuit. In past episodes, we've talked about the Fatal Accidents Act, which is a provincial law that governs wrongful death lawsuits. Practically every province has a version of that, but the kind of compensation and the amount of compensation varies between provinces. So we needed to sort out which province's laws applied. The Fatal Accidents Acts also may contain a different limitation period than the one in Alberta. So where the claim arose can affect many things. Who can make a claim, how much the claim is worth, and even the time frame that you have to sue. And frankly, knowing where the claim arose can be kind of a tricky analysis. When an Alberta resident dies in the Yukon on holidays, but the negligent medical advice that caused the death was given by an Alberta doctor, is that an Alberta claim or a Yukon claim? We actually recently argued that in court, and the court held that in that circumstance it's an Alberta claim, but sometimes it's not very clear.

Cynthia Carels 34:51

Yeah, and in addition, since we're talking about claims involving travel insurance, there may also be important deadlines and notice periods that are actually contained in the little fine print in the contract itself. And since the language in those kinds of policies is not standardized, uh there's no general rule of thumb that we can give regarding potential clients' contractual obligations without actually specifically looking at the policy of insurance. However, generally speaking, if a claim is denied and a potential client wants to sue their insurer on an Alberta insurance contract, we are typically looking at that two-year limitation period to formally file a statement of claim at the courthouse. So it is important to seek out appropriate legal advice regarding those applicable deadlines. And whenever we're talking about deadlines, honestly, the earlier you seek out legal advice, the better.

Warren Berg 35:40

This is Ask the Lawyer on Windspeaker Radio, C F W E and CJWE. I'm your host, Warren Berg, and joining us today are Cynthia Carrolls of Weird Bowen and Sheila McGregor of Weirbowen L L P in Edmonton. That's W-E-I-R-B-O-W-E-N. Their phone number is 780-424-2030 online at Weirbowen.com. And today we are talking about injury claims that arise in foreign jurisdictions and all the quirky issues that might come about when somebody is injured while traveling outside of their home province. So, Cynthia, I know I know that a lot of people, myself included, don't give travel insurance much of a second thought if they're taking a road trip to another province. If I'm flying internationally or something, I always make sure I look at the policy. Yeah. But if I'm going to Saskatchewan or BC, I just assume that as long as I had my Alberta health care card, I was good to go.

Cynthia Carels 36:31

So your Alberta healthcare card can be used across Canada. So, you know, don't default yourself for that. But it and obviously it's super important to carry it with you when you are traveling outside of the province because failing to show your Alberta health care card might result in you being directly billed for the cost of your Alberta health services in, or sorry, the cost of your health services in another province that's not Alberta. Um that said, even if you do have it with you, not everybody knows that coverage is limited. And it's important to know that not all services that might be available to you in Alberta are necessarily going to be covered outside the province.

Shelagh McGregor 37:07

And on top of that, your coverage is limited to the amounts that Alberta Health would pay for services if they were delivered in Alberta. So that means there can sometimes be gaps in coverage that you will be personally responsible to pay unless you have additional travel or a medical insurance.

Warren Berg 37:22

So if you're injured while you're in a car in a different province, does that insurance apply?

Cynthia Carels 37:28

Well, as always, when you ask a really specific question like that, I have to respond with, it depends. Uh so since automobile insurance is provincially regulated, we do have a big patchwork of insurance legislation across Alberta or across Canada. And figuring out what a non-resident of a particular province is going to be entitled to when they are injured in a different province than their home province can be a real trip. Uh so the the it depends is going to depend on a review of a bunch of facts, including, but obviously not limited to what province the auto accident actually happened in, uh, what vehicle the injured person was in, what province the vehicle was insured in, and then what province the injured person is actually from.

Shelagh McGregor 38:17

These situations are governed by interprovincial agreements between provinces, and it's not just a nice overarching framework that applies to all provinces. Of course, that would be too easy. Um, the legislative patchwork actually means each province has to negotiate agreements with every other province to establish how the insurers will respond to claims involving their residents when traveling outside of their home province. Many other provinces in Canada have adopted some form of no-fault automobile insurance, but not all no-fault automobile insurance systems are built the same either. For example, ICBC in British Columbia, their no-fault legislation is different from Saskatchewan insurance, which is also different from the Manitoba public insurance, even though all three provinces have government-owned and operated systems of compulsory auto insurance. But in Ontario, where they also have a no-fault system under the Ontario Motorist Protection Plan, the insurers are still private companies. Here in Alberta, our insurance is also provided by private companies, but we still maintain a tort-based or court-based approach where individuals who are wrongly injured in automobile accidents have a right to sue the owner and operator of the vehicle that caused the injury, at least for now.

Cynthia Carels 39:38

What, another nine months or so? Yeah. Uh so there can be a big difference between provinces in terms of what benefits someone is entitled to if they're injured in a car crash. And that sometimes raises issues where someone wants to establish the law that applies uh in a different jurisdiction uh might apply than where the crash actually occurred. So why might that happen? Let's use an example. Uh so I'm from Alberta, I pay for insurance uh on a contract of insurance that I purchased in Alberta, and that currently includes the ability to sue the other driver for all of my lost income and my cost of care regarding the crash. Now let's ex uh use the example of the crash occurring in Saskatchewan, where it is a no-fault insurance province. I might be limited to claiming only certain legislated benefits because people don't actually have the ability to sue wrongdoers for motor vehicle accidents that happened in that province.

Warren Berg 40:30

And I would imagine that there's probably lots of Albertans who get injured in Saskatchewan accidents.

Alberta Saskatchewan Knock For Knock

Cynthia Carels 40:35

Absolutely. Uh, you know, it seems like just about everybody you meet in Alberta is either from or has family or friends in Saskatchewan and vice versa. So it makes sense to look at some of the considerations for people who find themselves in an interprovincial situation between Alberta and Saskatchewan. So back in 1997, Alberta and Saskatchewan actually entered into a formal agreement on automobile insurance known as what we call a knock-for-knock memorandum. And as we discussed earlier, Saskatchewan has a no-fault insurance system that applies principally to residents who are injured in automobile accidents. Uh, Saskatchewan insurance was an insurance corporation created by statute. It was empowered to enter into agreements with governments of other provinces, and they have been charged with figuring out compensation structures for residents of other provinces who were injured in Saskatchewan, and then flipping it on its head. They were also charged with figuring out compensation structures for Saskatchewan residents who are injured outside of Saskatchewan. Now, in Alberta, we have a whole bunch of private insurance companies, and it really would have been unwieldy for SGI to enter into contracts with each and every individual insurer. So what happened was SGI entered into an agreement with our provincial government as represented by the provincial treasurer. And this agreement can be found online, and you know, uh Warren, I really hate reading out legislation on the radio, but there is a bit of a blurb in there in this agreement that really explains what the intended results of this deal was supposed to be. So if an Alberta resident is injured in a car crash in Saskatchewan, they will not be compensated by SGI. Instead, they will be compensated by their own insurer. But the compensation will be in accordance with the SGI no fault benefits legislation.

Warren Berg 42:30

So are you telling me that an Alberta insurer will pay an Alberta resident compensation on a no-fault basis if the accident is in Saskatchewan, even if the Alberta driver was at fault? Yeah.

unknown 42:42

Okay.

Cynthia Carels 42:43

That's how it works. Uh uh technically it's you know how it's supposed to work. And if the Alberta driver hits a Saskatchewan resident in Saskatchewan, then SGI is going to take care of that Saskatchewan resident, uh, and the Alberta insurance company will be taking care of the Albertan. Uh and since the law of the land in Saskatchewan is no fault, SGI will take no steps against the Alberta insurer or the Albertan to recover their costs, even though the Albertan was to blame for the collision. Now, the challenge for the injured Albertan is that the Saskatchewan no-fault benefits is a monster of a piece of legislation to sort through and understand. And many of the Alberta insurers don't even have enough of these claims to make it worthwhile to set up the kind of infrastructure that needs to happen in order to evaluate these claims smoothly. So it can be a bit of a bumpy ride to figure out what people are actually entitled to claim on that no fault basis based on the SGI legislation.

Shelagh McGregor 43:41

So Alberta insurers are obligated to pay a very limited set of accident benefits on a no fault basis for accidents that happen in Alberta, but it's nothing like the Saskatchewan no fault model. So, unless the negligent Albertan injured in a car crash in Saskatchewan has catastrophic injuries, They might not even seek advice from a lawyer to find out what they could actually be entitled to, because even if they were the one who caused the accident, they could be entitled to a very substant to very substantial benefits.

Warren Berg 44:11

Okay, so what happens if the Alberta resident resident doesn't have automobile insurance? Say, for example, what if they took the bus to Regina and then got hit in a crosswalk as a pedestrian?

Cynthia Carels 44:23

Yeah. So for Alberta residents who don't actually have an insurance contract of their own, they will be compensated by SGI according to the SGI legislation. However, there's a caveat to that. They will only be compensated to the extent that they weren't responsible for causing the accident.

Shelagh McGregor 44:41

So despite Saskatchewan technically being a no-fault jurisdiction, in that circumstance that you hypothetically proposed, Warren, there would be an investigation of fault. So be forewarned, if you're an Albertan traveling to Saskatchewan with without your own auto insurance policy, there are some limitations on that whole no-fault philosophy they have over in Saskatchewan.

Warren Berg 45:02

Okay, so what happens if uh we flip that in the other direction when maybe a Saskatchewan resident gets injured in an Alberta car accident?

Cynthia Carels 45:09

Okay, so when a Saskatchewan is that I don't know. I think that's right. Saskatchewan? Okay. When a Saskatchewan is injured in an accident in Alberta, uh SGI will pay their resident no fault benefits pursuant to the Saskatchewan legislation. And even if the Albertan is at fault, SGI will not try to recover any of their costs from the Albertan insurer.

Warren Berg 45:32

Okay. Let's throw in another complicating scenario just to really mix up the pot here.

Cynthia Carels 45:36

Super fun.

Warren Berg 45:38

We love it. What if one of our Alberta-based drivers is l is is or Alberta-based listeners is driving in Saskatchewan in a vehicle that they own and have insured in Alberta, but they have a buddy from Manitoba in the backseat who gets injured when the Alberta car gets hit by a Saskatchewan driver. Love it.

Shelagh McGregor 45:54

Yeah. So that sounds like a law school question if I've ever heard it. Uh for I it's taking me back to second-year law school insurance law. Um, and we love debating those scenarios and what would happen. There's a an infinite number of possible combinations of who might be in a vehicle that came from some other place for sure. And so there would need to be an infinite number of legislation legislative agreements uh between the an infinite number of jurisdictions if the law was going to try to anticipate them all. So for the purposes of our discussion today, it's just important to know that this particular knock-for-knock agreement is limited to Alberta and Saskatchewan residents. It does not affect any rights or obligations where a person is not a resident of either jurisdiction.

Humboldt Broncos And No-Fault Limits

Warren Berg 46:38

Okay, so um one of the more famous uh automobile accidents in Saskatchewan was the uh Humboldt Broncos crash in April 2018. Did this legislation apply in in that crash?

Cynthia Carels 46:50

So, you know, I actually remember that night very well. I happened to be working late in my office that night. Uh, and when I'm working late, I usually have the news on and my heart just sank hearing that there were 16 fatalities, um, 13 seriously injured victims from all across Western Canada, and I knew there were likely going to be some Albertans in the mix. There are some Alberta-based victims who were going to need legal help for you know these interjurisdictional issues. And unfortunately, this is a really niche area of personal injury law. So honestly, I suspect it was only going to be a matter of time before my phone rang because there just aren't that many lawyers who do this kind of work. Um, but yes, a number of the Alberta residents who were on the bus that night did have Alberta automobile insurance, and they made their claims for the no-fault benefits payable under the Saskatchewan insurance legislation, and they made those claims against their own Alberta-based insurers.

Shelagh McGregor 47:45

And that being said, there's still a lot of litigation ongoing regarding that crash. And even though Saskatchewan is technically a no-fault jurisdiction, not all potential defendants are necessarily protected by that legislation. For example, some of the claims have named the government of Saskatchewan as a defendant for allegedly failing to make modifications to that intersection when it knew or ought to have known it had serious problems with sight lines and it needed rumble strips. And in late December 2025, uh Regina, the Regina Court of King's Bench actually dismissed that claim. But according to the latest news reports, the families are appealing that decision. So it remains to be seen what will happen there. The families are actually challenging the whole no-fault insurance scheme in Saskatchewan entirely, arguing that the province's legislative legislation is unconstitutional unconstitutional uh in preventing them from suing the province for the negligence they've alleged.

Warren Berg 48:42

So I I guess maybe the takeaway here is that if you are an Albertan injured in Saskatchewan, you really should call a lawyer to figure out what you might be entitled to and whether there is anyone you might need to sue, even though it's a no-fault jurisdiction.

Cynthia Carels 48:56

Yeah, that's definitely the takeaway. This can be murky, even though the whole legislation scheme was supposed to try to make things clear and and easy. Um, but especially for Albertans who find themselves seriously injured when they are in Saskatchewan, because navigating through that SGI legislation is really challenging. And even though it is supposed to be administered on a no-fault basis, theoretically, without the need for lawyers to get involved, we sometimes do need to sue Alberta insurers in Alberta to preserve our clients' contractual rights regarding a Saskatchewan. Also, in some situations where the no-fault benefits are insufficient to respond to the claim, there may even be an opportunity to file what we call an excess loss claim against the wrongdoer in Saskatchewan.

Excess Loss Claims And Alberta Shift

Warren Berg 49:43

So, what is an excess loss claim?

Cynthia Carels 49:45

Well, without getting too deep into the weeds on this, there are certain situations in Saskatchewan system where an injured party can make an excess loss claim against a wrongdoer if they can provide that their losses exceed the limits of that no-fault coverage that's provided by Saskatchewan Insurance. Uh, and for a system that was supposedly designed to streamline injury claims, in reality it's actually created quite a bureaucratic maze for seriously injured people to figure out their rights and entitlements, especially when the benefits under the standard policy are simply insufficient to meet that person's needs. Now, British Columbia adopted a no-fault system a few years ago as well. And there have been a lot of horror stories coming out of that jurisdiction for ways that their no-fault system has left people injured in auto accidents without appropriate recourse for their lost earnings and care needs as well. So that's where those excess loss claims can come in. And as we mentioned earlier in January 2027, Alberta is going to be moving into this no-fault insurance model as well, which is giving all of us who work in this space a lot of really big concerns.

Shelagh McGregor 50:50

Yeah, again, this is obviously extremely technical, and we can really only touch the tip of the iceberg in a one-hour show. But definitely if you're an Alberton injured in an accident outside of Alberta, please contact a lawyer to have them look at the specifics of your case.

Wrap-Up And Final Reminders

Cynthia Carels 51:05

Yeah, and before you leave, please make sure to double check that you have appropriate personal insurance coverage in place that can respond to your specific needs in an emergency, regardless of the jurisdiction you ultimately decide to travel to. But if that insurer does deny your claim, know that you can still call one of our colleagues at Weirbowen for advice regarding the strength of that denial and whether there might be some uh workarounds there to help us successfully litigate against it.

Warren Berg 51:33

We have covered a lot of ground today in the March edition of Ask the Lawyer with Sheila McGregor and Cynthia Carrolls of Wearbowen L L P in Edmonton. Once again, if you need more information, you can uh go to their website, We'Bowen.com. That's W-E-I-R-B-O-W-E-N. Their phone number is 780-424-2030. You can also find a link to Ask the Lawyer on our radio station homepage where these shows are available to stream on demand. Thanks once again to Sheila and Cynthia from Wearbowen L L P.

Cynthia Carels 52:04

Thanks very much, Warren. Yeah, we're always happy to come here, uh, nerd out and talk about the law.

Warren Berg 52:09

And we look forward to learning much more about the law through this series, which takes place here on the last Saturday of every month on Windspeaker Radio, CFWE and CJWE.