Meet Anthony J. Bedard

Anthony J. Bedard commenced his professional career with Lerners LLP following his call to the bar in 1988. He has been a Partner since 1993 with a practice devoted to civil litigation throughout. He has been repeatedly voted by his peers in Best Lawyers of Canada in the area of insurance law. His insurance practice focuses on complex and large loss first party insurance claims.

Mr. Bedard regularly acts as counsel on business interruption claims, building quantification issues, contents and stock loss cases across a wide spectrum of industry sectors, including: retail, manufacturing, professional services, heavy industry, mining, warehousing, and the hospitality sector. He has acted as litigation counsel, appraiser under the Insurance Act and negotiator in resolving property loss claims.

He has advised clients, written countless coverage opinions and acted as litigation counsel in claims involving fraud, arson, material misrepresentation, material change in circumstance, policy interpretation, building by-laws, limitation of actions and bad faith.

Mr. Bedard has spoken and chaired at conferences involving property damage issues for Canadian Defence Lawyers, Osgoode Professional Development Program, and Canadian Institute.

Recent notable cases include:

• Carter v. Intact Insurance Company, 2016 ONCA 917; 2017 CanLII 32943 (SCC) (Application for Leave to Appeal dismissed). A precedent setting case involving the interpretation of replacement cost and building by-law clauses in the context of a commercial fire loss.
• Merei v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, 2014 ONSC 1960 (CanLII). Litigated the issue of when an automatic renewal policy can be terminated by the insurer.
• Birmingham Business Centre Inc. v. Intact Insurance Company, 2018 ONSC 6174 (CanLII). Judicial Review of an Insurance Act appraisal valuation on a commercial loss.
• Dahoui v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, 2015 ONSC 4731. Dismissal for delay of commercial retail loss claim involving business interruption.
• Champion Products Corp. v. Intact Insurance Company, 2017 ONSC 1740 (CanLII); 2020 ONCA 111 (CanLII); 2020 CanLII 48928 (SCC) (Application for Leave to Appeal dismissed). (Appeal argued by other counsel). Case involving issues of waiver and relief from forfeiture on a commercial manufacturing claim.

Complimentary areas of practice include defence of medical negligence claims, defamation and personal injury.

• Selected by his peers for inclusion in Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory for commercial insurance litigation (2019-2022)
• Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada for Insurance Law

• Canadian Defence Lawyers, and past board member
• Defence Research Institute
• The Advocates’ Society
• Canadian Bar Association
• Middlesex Law Association

• Partner, Lerners LLP (1993 to present)
• Associate lawyer, Lerners LLP (1988-1992)
• Articling student, Lerners LLP (1986)
• Summer student, Donnelly and Murphy (1984)

• Admitted to Ontario Bar (1988)
• Bachelor of Laws, The University of Western Ontario (1986)
• Bachelor of Environmental Studies (minor in Canadian studies), University of Waterloo (1983)