Court says insurance agency doesn’t have to pay in B.C. teacher-abuse lawsuit

VICTORIA – A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled an insurance company shouldn’t have to pay for the actions of a former Victoria, B.C., school teacher who abused his student.

In 2007, Joseph Dube pleaded guilty to assaulting one of his Grade 1 students.

The abuse included throwing the boy across the classroom and preventing the child — who had a bowel condition — from going to the washroom.

The boy’s family launched a civil claim against the school district and Dube for negligence and damages and Dube asked his insurance agency, BCAA, for coverage.

But BCAA refused to pay, saying the allegations were based on assault and battery and it would only pay for unintentional bodily injury or property damage.

Dube asked the court to force BCAA to pay, but Judge Stephen Kelleher sided with the insurance agency, ruling the former teacher’s actions of abuse and corporal punishment fall squarely under BCAA’s exclusion clause in the policy.