TD Insurance agrees to settle travel claims lawsuit

TD Insurance has agreed to settle a class action suit related to trip cancellation claims that were made in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by the Globe and Mail.

The insurer said it will pay $4.8 million in compensation to anyone insured by a TD travel insurance policy between March 16, 2018, and October 15, 2021. The payment will also include an additional $300,000 in administration costs.

In a lawsuit filed last September 2020 by Toronto-based firms Samfiru Tumarkin LLP and Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP, several travellers alleged they were wrongfully denied trip cancellation benefits after TD Insurance denied reimbursement claims on the basis that policyholders were offered credit or vouchers in lieu of refunds. The suit argued that this was a breach of TD Insurance’s travel cancellation policies, which did not exclude repaying expenses if non-monetary compensation was offered to the policyholder.

“Travel insurance policies are intended to provide peace of mind to individuals and their families,” said Sivan Tumarkin, insurance lawyer and co-founding partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, back in 2020. “It is only right that TD and other travel insurers honour their contractual obligations and pay legitimate claims when Canadians are experiencing unprecedented financial hardships.”

As part of the settlement, TD Insurance said it will compensate customers who submitted a trip cancellation claim and were fully or partially denied due to receiving trip vouchers, coupons or credits from airlines, hotels, or any other travel groups.

The insurer said it will offer reimbursements to three specific groups. The first includes any traveller who had a claim related to an amount paid to and was already reimbursed by a specific airline. The second refers to those who were not received by an airline or had not received a credit or voucher for travel costs. The third group, meanwhile, includes travellers who had been reimbursed by their airline, but had received a credit or voucher for another expense they tried to claim under their TD policy.

The settlement will be approved at a hearing scheduled for Feb. 17, 2023, the Globe and Mail said.