Transport Legal Solutions

Steven is the owner of a small short haul trucking company. One of Steven’s drivers was pulled over for a random inspection and weight check by a provincial ministry of transportation officer. Upon inspection, the driver was fined $500 and received 3 CVOR demerit points for having a slightly overweight load, which the driver was unaware of, since the paperwork the client gave them stated the correct weight. This violation not only impacted the driver’s personal commercial license, but Steven’s company’s CVOR safety certificate rating as well.

Steven decided to extend his company’s legal expense coverage to both defend the driver’s commercial license and his company’s safety record. Steven and the driver called the Legal Helpline and explained the situation to a Helpline Lawyer. The lawyer then passed the details to the Claims Department for coverage determination.

The Claims Department assigned a legal representative who attended the court hearing on both the driver’s and Steven’s behalf, so they did not have to take time off from work. They successfully defended the driver and the business by highlighting this was a first offence for the driver and the company’s CVOR rating history was exceptional. The judge agreed and the fine was reduced. Moreover, the CVOR demerit points were also dropped. The policy saved Steven’s business $1,500 in legal fees and the driver was thankful their employer backed them up for an honest mistake and protected their commercial driver’s license as well.

Emily works for a special needs camp, where she drives the camp’s bus and takes their campers on daily excursions. While driving the campers to a museum visit, Emily cut a corner too close and ended up driving into a bike lane. A police officer witnessed the infraction, and Emily was charged with Careless Driving which resulted in five CVOR points deduction, and additional demerit points on her commercial driver’s license. In conjunction with a previous charge Emily hadn’t defended herself against, her driver’s license was then suspended.

Emily reported the suspension to the camp’s owner. Emily was a long-term employee, who up until this year had a spotless driving record was a valued member of the camp’s team in supporting their special needs campers. The owner decided to extend coverage to Emily and called the Legal Helpline to start the claim process to have her license reinstated as soon as possible.The Claims Department assigned a legal representative who gathered more details from Emily.

The legal representative filed an application to appeal the suspension on the grounds she needs her license to work and care for her family. The legal representative appeared before the provincial ministry of transportation and was successful in getting Emily’s license reinstated. The policy saved Emily $1,000 in legal fees and Emily was thankful her employer backed her up for an honest mistake and protected her commercial driver’s license as well.

Tom owns and operates a small long-haul company that employs four drivers who transport goods across Canada. He recently hired a fifth driver who within the span of 3 months had received numerous tickets and inspection violations causing Tom’s previous Excellent Safety Rating to plummet to an Unsatisfactory Safety Rating. The consequences would be the suspension of his business’ operating privileges for a period of time, and significantly higher insurance rates for his business in the long run after the suspension period ended.

Tom’s first action was to appeal the Unsatisfactory Safety Rating, as that process would result in a Conditional Rating so his business and 4 remaining drivers can continue to operate during the appeals process. So he called the Legal Helpline to begin the claim process for this significant legal event. The Claims Team contacted Tom to collection more information to make a claim determination. Coverage was then extended upon the Claims Analyst’s review and a lawyer was assigned to defend Tom’s business in appealing the Unsatisfactory Safety Rating.

The assigned lawyer spoke with Tom and the other drivers to gather additional safety related documentation to build a file and effectively represent Tom’s business at a tribunal hearing. At the hearing, the lawyer successful defended Tom’s business, highlighting its past record and steps taken to ensure Tom’s company returns to its previous Excellent Rating. The tribunal agreed with the facts and plan presented to overturn the Unsatisfactory Safety Rating and have the Conditional Rating set to the legally required minimum of 6 months, after which if Tom’s company record was clean, a Satisfactory Rating would be established. Tom was pleased because an Unsatisfactory Rating would have essentially shut down his business, plus he saved $8,000 in legal fees.

Jagmeet is the owner of a short-haul and local delivery company. He recently purchased a used box truck from a dealership. After a couple months of making deliveries, the transmission started to act-up, so the truck was taken back to the dealer Jagmeet purchased it from for repairs. The dealer repaired the transmission on site for a cost of $5,400. However, two days later the truck broke down while making an important client delivery due to transmission failure. The vehicle was towed back to the dealer, and Jagmeet was advised the transmission could be repaired and the dealer would cover part costs, but Jagmeet would still have to pay an additional $1,800 in mechanic labour costs. Jagmeet did not believe this was fair after using the truck for only 48 hours, and felt the entire repair cost should be fully covered. The dealer countered it was the driver’s fault for being ‘too hard’ on the transmission so soon after a rebuild and their offer was a take it or leave it proposition.

Frustrated and annoyed by this dealer, Jagmeet called the Legal Helpline to better understand what his legal rights could be under this situation. Jagmeet’s details were then passed to the Claims Department. A Claims Analysts contacted Jagmeet to get further details, documentation and invoice information regarding the initial transmission rebuild.

The Claims Analyst then sent a Demand Letter to the dealer advising the full repair cost should be covered by them. After some back and forth negotiations with the dealer’s service manager it was agreed Jagmeet would not have to pay anything to now have the truck repaired. Jagmeet was pleased he did not have to spend time and energy negotiating a solution himself and that he saved $1,500 in legal fees as well.