Can a plaintiff rely on the suing and labouring clause to avoid or minimize liability?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. Youell, 1993 CanLII 6858 (BC CA):
The trial judge in this case considered Cunard v. Marten, supra, and said at p. 437: Walton J. went on to hold that the policy was clearly not a policy on goods but a liability policy and accordingly the suing and labouring clause was not applicable since it was on the face of it only intended to apply to "insurance" on "goods, merchandise and ship". The present policies in my opinion are liability policies as well and not insurance on the "goods, merchandise and ship". On the basis of the foregoing authorities, and, as a matter of construction I am of the opinion that the plaintiffs cannot rely on the "sue and labour" clause to recover expenses incurred by them to avert or minimize liability.
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