Insurers to pay $52.5M to Quebec homeowners in ice storm settlement
Consumer group filed class action suit for 2 million victims of 1998 storm
About two million people in Quebec could soon be receiving compensation for damage to their homes during the 1998 ice storm.
An agreement was reached with 15 insurance companies—bringing the total settlement to $52.5 million.
Option consommateurs, a not-for-profit consumers association, launched a class action lawsuit against 19 insurance companies when they refused to pay additional living expenses after homes were deemed uninhabitable after the storm hit parts of Quebec in January 1998.
The agreement was reached on Sept. 3 for $40 million, without the admission of liability.
That is in addition to the $12.5 million settled with four insurance companies in December 2012.
Jean-Pierre Fafard, the lawyer who represented Option consommateurs in the case, called this one of the most the important class action victories in Quebec history.
However, the agreement still must be accepted by the Quebec Superior Court at a hearing to be held in Montreal on Oct. 25.
With files from The Canadian Press