Looking for Reform in All the Wrong Places

I have read the article “Disjointed – A Look at Joint and Several Liability” published in the Q2-2014 MSA Quarterly Outlook Report. The author is the “Insurance Bureau of Canada”, but no single author takes “credit” for the article. The article continues on what I see as a repeating theme[1] from the insurance industry to push ill-considered reforms aimed at issues primarily of concern to the insurance industry, without due regard to the wider public interest or to the longer term consequences. With this article, the IBC continues to look for reform in all the wrong places.

With due respect to the IBC, the article fails to articulate a sustainable principle for its proposed reforms; shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the rule and its rationale; lacks data in support of its position; and, neglects important policy issues that demand that the rule be maintained.

View PDF of publication.