TD Travel Insurance Class Action Lawsuit

Settlement Approval

Justice Morgan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the proposed settlement agreement on February 16, 2023.

Read the approved settlement.

The date for the settlement and fee approval motions has changed. It will now take place over zoom on February 15, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Any notice of objection must be received by no later than February 8, 2023. If you have already requested a zoom link to watch the hearings, you do not need to make another request.

Settlement Agreement

An agreement to settle the class action has been reached, and is subject to court approval.

The court will consider the merits of the settlement on February 15, 2023.

All class members will receive notice of the settlement, along with their options. The settlement agreement can be found here:

• Lyons v. TD Home and Auto Insurance – Settlement (English)
• Lyons v. TD Home and Auto Insurance – Settlement (French)

Opt Out

Class members can opt out of the settlement by completing and mailing the appropriate opt-out form:

• English opt-out form
• French opt-out form

Notice Plan

On October 11, 2022, the court approved a Notice and Notice Plan which outlines how notice of the pertinent steps of litigation of this class shall be carried-out. The Notice can be found here:

• Lyons v. TD Home and Auto Insurance – English Notice
• Lyons v. TD Home and Auto Insurance – French Notice

By Order of Justice E.M. Morgan dated October 15, 2021, this action has been certified, on consent, as a class proceeding against the Defendant, TD Home and Auto Insurance Company. The “Class” is defined as:

“Any person in Canada insured under the terms of Policy TGV006 (the “Policy”) and the applicable Certificate of Insurance who, between March 16, 2018 and the date of certification had their claim for a Trip Cancellation Benefit under the Policy fully or partially denied based, wholly or in part, on the availability of non-monetary compensation such as credits, coupons, or vouchers.”

The action against The Toronto-Dominion Bank has been dismissed without costs, on consent.

In addition, the Court ordered that the certified common issue for the Class is as follows:

“Does TD travel insurance policy bearing Group Policy No. TGV006 and the applicable Certificate of Insurance, as contained within the class member’s Cardholder Agreement permit the denial, in whole or in part, of claims for Trip Cancellation Benefits for reimbursement of Eligible Trip Cancellation Expenses forfeited as a result of Non-Medical Covered Causes for Cancellation on account of the availability of non-monetary compensation, such as credits, coupons, or vouchers which the class member has received or which the class member was entitled to receive from a travel service provider?”

Copies of Justice E.M. Morgan’s Endorsement and Certification Order, dated October 15, 2021, can be found here:

Justice E.M. Morgan’s Endorsement

Justice E.M. Morgan’s Certification Order

The parties will now proceed to schedule a hearing for the determination of the certified common issue. A notice will be sent to class members in the near future. Class members do not need to do anything at this time as further information is forthcoming.

Endorsement of Justice E.M. Morgan, dated November 25, 2020. Read it here.

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP and Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP issue an Amended Statement of Claim dated November 30, 2020. Read it here.

The Certification Hearing is currently scheduled to proceed on September 23/24, 2021 before Justice Morgan. The purpose of this Certification Hearing is to ask the Court to certify the class of plaintiffs in this class action.

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP issues the class action claim, on behalf of Kevin Lyons.

Read the claim: Kevin Lyons v. TD Bank

Any person who since March 16, 2018, was insured by TD or was entitled to assert a claim for Trip Cancellation Benefits pursuant to their policy with the bank, and was denied all or some of their claim on the basis of the availability of non-monetary compensation such as credits, coupons and vouchers, is covered by this class action.

TD is denying compensation to individuals who have been reimbursed with credits or vouchers, despite the fact that the offer of credits and vouchers is not covered by an exclusion policy in their specific travel insurance policy.

The lead plaintiff in the TD class action is Kevin Lyons, who had booked a 12-day trip for himself, his wife and two children, scheduled to commence with a cruise out of Italy on March 8, 2020. One of Lyons’ children is a 16-year old Leukemia survivor and the family was expressly advised by their doctor, prior to their trip, not to travel due to medical reasons relating to the global spread and dangers of COVID-19.

Lyons cancelled the family trip when the government issued travel advisories, including to parts of Italy, and subsequently put in a trip cancellation claim through his insurer, TD Insurance. Out of his $6,673.36 claim, he was reimbursed only $78.97 for the non-refundable portion of his AirBnB reservation. He was denied the portion relating to his family’s flights and cruise.

Contrary to the provisions of its own travel insurance policy, TD has taken the position that the availability of a credit or voucher disentitles Lyons to full reimbursement of his expenses.

There are several legal steps that take place in a class action after a Claim has been filed. Broadly speaking, there are three stages: (1) Certification of the Class Action by the Court; (2) a common issues trial; and (3) and individual issues trial.

Stage 1

No. You do not have to sign up to be a Class Member.

If the class action is certified, you are automatically a Class Member if you meet the definition. If you meet the definition, you are automatically represented by Kevin Lyons in relation to the issues raised in the class action.

If and when this class action is certified, the Court will give you and all Class Members the right to “opt out” of the class action if you do not want to be involved.

No. Samfiru Tumarkin LLP has come to an agreement to work on this matter on what is called a “contingency” basis.

Our firm will only ever be paid a fee if we are successful in recovering monies from TD. In the event TD is successful, they may claim “costs”, which is an amount to pay for their lawyers. You will not be responsible for those costs if that happens.

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP is co-counsel in this case with Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP.

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP is a leading labour, employment, disability and personal injury law firm in Ontario and British Columbia, and has represented thousands of clients in various stages of negotiations, mediations and numerous levels of court.