The city of Winnipeg has been advised to drop a lawsuit against its insurer and settle for $7.4 million to compensate for flood-related damage.
Heavy rainfall flooded the basement of the former Canada Post warehouse — now the Smith Street Building — on Aug. 21, 2014. Damage to the electrical transformers in the building — currently the new headquarters of the city’s police — prevented officers from moving into the premises for months.
Winnipeg filed a statement of claim last November in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench.
The city’s bureaucrats prepared a report — to be discussed in next week’s civic finance committee meeting — that said that the city’s insurer,
Northbridge Insurance, has offered to settle the flood claim; this would require the city to drop the lawsuit, however.
Winnipeg Free Press reported that the claim is one of the largest in recent city history. Northbridge has paid the city over $6.8 million, and is willing to pay another $571,000 to resolve the current dispute.
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Winnipeg had filed an insurance claim for $8.1 million related to the water damage the police headquarters building suffered. The city’s policy had a $100,000 deductible.
The report maintained that should the city pursue the lawsuit, court action would take about three to five years. It also noted that even within that time, the city might not recover all of the insurance payout it believes it is owed.
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