Former premier Bill Vander Zalm launched court action August 1 to get his insurance company to pay all costs incurred earlier this year when he was found to have defamed the province’s one-time conflict of interest commissioner, Ted Hughes.
Vander Zalm filed a petition seeking a declaration from the Supreme Court of British Columbia that Lloyd’s Underwriters is obliged to provide him with insurance coverage.
A BC Supreme Court civil trial jury recommended in February that Vander Zalm pay Hughes $60,000 damages for libelling Hughes in Vander Zalm’s autobiography For The People. Justice Laura Gerow then ordered Vander Zalm to pay both $60,000 and his own costs.
“The petitioner was insured under a personal umbrella liability insurance policy with Lloyd’s, which insured the petitioner up to a limit of $5 million for all losses the petitioner may become legally obligated to pay as compensatory damages because of ‘personal injury’ sustained by others,” reads Vander Zalm’s petition. “‘Personal injury’ is defined in the insurance policy as meaning inter alia ‘libel, slander, defamation of character or invasion of rights of privacy.’”
Justice Gerow did not require Vander Zalm to pay Hughes’ costs, which were higher than the judgment.
Hughes had said he would drop the defamation lawsuit if Vander Zalm agreed to pay $25,000 and legal costs and issued an apology.
