Lorelei Rogers told her insurance company she was growing legal medical marijuana plants in her house – and they turned around and cancelled her policy..Blacklock’s Reporter says that move by Canadian Northern Shield Insurance Co. is to go to a human rights hearing in BC..“There is no dispute Canadian Northern Shield’s policy created a barrier,” wrote Jessica Derynck, an adjudicator with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal..The company must show its cancellation of coverage was justified, added Derynck..Rogers, of Clearwater, was a policyholder from 2013 and in 2019 notified the company she used medically-prescribed marijuana as a treatment for health effects of a workplace injury and had obtained a federal permit..Rogers told the Tribunal she grew 25 plants in a gardening shed on her property and had installed $2,000 worth of equipment including security cameras and fire extinguishers..Canadian Northern Shield cancelled the policy and notified her mortgage holder..“When her mortgage holder learned she did not have home insurance it negotiated her mortgage at a higher rate and her costs went up by $300 a month,” said the Tribunal..Rogers said other insurers quoted premiums of up to $8,000 a year..“Risks with medicinal grow operations are considered a decline regardless of how many plants are grown in the home,” one insurance executive wrote in a 2020 email concerning Rogers’ case..Householders can legally grow up to four marijuana plants under Bill C-45, passed by Parliament three years ago..“If her evidence is proven at a hearing, Ms. Rogers could demonstrate Canadian Northern Shield’s neutral policy against insuring properties where medical marijuana is grown had a disproportionate adverse impact in her particular circumstances due to her disability,” wrote the Tribunal..Derynck rejected a company petition to dismiss the complaint. No date was fixed for a hearing..Rogers said she told Canadian Northern Shield of her marijuana shed for fear of reprisal for not telling them. Courts have ruled insurers are entitled to void claims by homeowners who conceal marijuana plants..Wawanesa Mutual Company of Winnipeg in 2020 won a court judgment voiding payment on a $1.37 million fire insurance policy by a customer who failed to report growing medical marijuana plants in a workshop..“Would it matter if I grew tomatoes or cucumbers?” William Schellenberg, the Chilliwack, B.C. policyholder, testified at his 2018 trial..The British Columbia Supreme Court said Schellenberg “should have known the presence of the grow operation in the outbuilding was material to the risk.”.The B.C. Supreme Court in 2019 similarly ruled life insurers could void claims for policyholders who concealed marijuana use..The Court upheld the refusal by London Life Insurance Co. to pay a $429,843 claim to the widow of a Delta, B.C. cannabis smoker who died of a heart attack at 46. The client had denied being a cannabis user in a London Life questionnaire.
Lorelei Rogers told her insurance company she was growing legal medical marijuana plants in her house – and they turned around and cancelled her policy..Blacklock’s Reporter says that move by Canadian Northern Shield Insurance Co. is to go to a human rights hearing in BC..“There is no dispute Canadian Northern Shield’s policy created a barrier,” wrote Jessica Derynck, an adjudicator with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal..The company must show its cancellation of coverage was justified, added Derynck..Rogers, of Clearwater, was a policyholder from 2013 and in 2019 notified the company she used medically-prescribed marijuana as a treatment for health effects of a workplace injury and had obtained a federal permit..Rogers told the Tribunal she grew 25 plants in a gardening shed on her property and had installed $2,000 worth of equipment including security cameras and fire extinguishers..Canadian Northern Shield cancelled the policy and notified her mortgage holder..“When her mortgage holder learned she did not have home insurance it negotiated her mortgage at a higher rate and her costs went up by $300 a month,” said the Tribunal..Rogers said other insurers quoted premiums of up to $8,000 a year..“Risks with medicinal grow operations are considered a decline regardless of how many plants are grown in the home,” one insurance executive wrote in a 2020 email concerning Rogers’ case..Householders can legally grow up to four marijuana plants under Bill C-45, passed by Parliament three years ago..“If her evidence is proven at a hearing, Ms. Rogers could demonstrate Canadian Northern Shield’s neutral policy against insuring properties where medical marijuana is grown had a disproportionate adverse impact in her particular circumstances due to her disability,” wrote the Tribunal..Derynck rejected a company petition to dismiss the complaint. No date was fixed for a hearing..Rogers said she told Canadian Northern Shield of her marijuana shed for fear of reprisal for not telling them. Courts have ruled insurers are entitled to void claims by homeowners who conceal marijuana plants..Wawanesa Mutual Company of Winnipeg in 2020 won a court judgment voiding payment on a $1.37 million fire insurance policy by a customer who failed to report growing medical marijuana plants in a workshop..“Would it matter if I grew tomatoes or cucumbers?” William Schellenberg, the Chilliwack, B.C. policyholder, testified at his 2018 trial..The British Columbia Supreme Court said Schellenberg “should have known the presence of the grow operation in the outbuilding was material to the risk.”.The B.C. Supreme Court in 2019 similarly ruled life insurers could void claims for policyholders who concealed marijuana use..The Court upheld the refusal by London Life Insurance Co. to pay a $429,843 claim to the widow of a Delta, B.C. cannabis smoker who died of a heart attack at 46. The client had denied being a cannabis user in a London Life questionnaire.
