THUNDER BAY -- The lawyer for the Dorion Inn owners is claiming vindication after a seven-year ordeal has determined the fire that burned down the motel and restaurant was not arson.
A Superior Court decision awarded Ivan and Miho Jakovljevic almost $1 million on Jan. 16 as a result of Intact Insurance breaching contract with the Dorion Inn.The court ordered the company to pay the family $250,000 in lost profits and an additional $215,000 as punishment for its "egregious conduct" in alleging arson was the cause of the 2009 fire.
"For my clients, what concerns them more than anything was this allegation of arson that has been hanging over their heads for several years. They now feel completely vindicated," said lawyer Chris Hacio, who represented the Jakovlievic family.
"Justice Newton's decision was clear: there was no evidence to support arson because they didn't do it and they had no reason to do it."
The family intends to use the financial damages awarded to rebuild the Dorion Inn on its former site. They argued the initial $1-million settlement was insufficient to rebuild and two contractors backed up their claim the facility's replacement cost would be about $1.8 million.
Although a volunteer firefighter testified the fire's cause to have likely been electrical and the Ontario Fire Marshall's office declared it "undetermined" with no need for further investigation, Intact Insurance's "special investigations unit" submitted only the Jakovilevics had access to the site in the 40 minutes prior to the blaze.
The court ruled Intact knew Ivan had "substantial net worth" and was "meeting all of his financial obligations" within two months of the May fire but the insurance company continued to make the Jakovilevic family's financial position the basis for suspecting the fire to have been arson.
"There is also clearly a pattern where the insured is suffering substantial financial distress...," Intact's report reads.
There was no disputing the Dorion Inn had been struggling between 2002 when it lost its LCBO agency license and the fire seven years later. The inn profited only $16,000 in 2006 and lost $1,800 in 2007.It was appealing $140,000 in municipal taxes and its underground gas storage tanks had expired.
The court was "satisfied" the inn's gas station would have opened in 2009 and noted the possibility the owners could turn around the business, considering the highway twinning project between Thunder Bay and Nipigon.
"Within five or six months of the fire, Intact did not have much to go on to support arson," the decision reads, suggesting independent adjuster John Bourett contended the investigation was still ongoing as late as September 2010.
"Nevertheless, Intact, through Mr. Bourett, continued down that path. Based on my review of the adjuster's reports, I conclude that Mr. Bourett was not 'balanced and reasonable' but, in fact, adversarial."
The question of damages arose from an ad Intact placed in the local paper, which read in part: "Through Crime Stoppers investigators are looking for your help in the investigation of the fire that destroyed a well-known local highway landmark." Intact committed to a $10,000 reward for anyone with such information.
Local residents testified the Jakovilevic family felt the campaign unfairly implicated them in their misfortune and posed a "serious challenge to (Ivan's) integrity."
The court's final decision took into account Intact having eventually abandoned the arson defence.
