An insurer's refusal to cover a diesel-in-the-wrong-tank claim has collapsed after a British Columbia tribunal ruled the damage likely came from vandalism.
The Civil Resolution Tribunal released its decision in Cleanway Supply Inc. v. ICBC, 2026 BCCRT 917 (CanLII) on June 16, 2026, ordering the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia to pay a corporate policyholder after denying a malicious mischief claim.
The dispute began on March 11, 2024, when a Cleanway Supply employee noticed a warning light on the company's Isuzu truck. A local garage found diesel fuel had been put into the truck's diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tank, triggering extensive repairs the applicant pegged at roughly $5,700.
Cleanway held comprehensive coverage through ICBC, which includes malicious mischief. But the insurer denied the claim, arguing the contamination more likely stemmed from employee error - which the policy does not cover - than from vandalism. In a Fair Practices email, ICBC said there was "not enough evidence to support that vandalism occurred."
The coverage turned on a single contract clause. Under the comprehensive policy, mechanical failure or breakdown is excluded unless the loss is coincidental with other covered damage or is caused by malicious mischief. With no direct proof of vandalism, the question became whether the policyholder could still meet its burden.
Vice Chair Christopher C. Rivers applied an approach drawn from earlier tribunal decisions: an insured can prove malicious mischief without direct evidence, provided it disproves every alternative explanation. Cleanway conceded it had no video, no secured yard, and no locked DEF cap - only a theory that an ex-employee or disgruntled neighbour was responsible.
ICBC leaned on a garage invoice note reading that the customer had put diesel in the tank by accident. Rivers gave the note no weight, finding it as likely a technician's shorthand as a customer admission. He was more persuaded by competing expert evidence. The repair shop's branch manager explained that the DEF tank's filler neck is built so a standard diesel nozzle will not fit, meaning an accidental fill would require a portable container such as a jerry can - something ICBC never alleged.
That, Rivers found, answered the employee-error theory. With the innocent explanation eliminated and no other cause apparent, he concluded vandalism was the most likely cause and that ICBC had to pay under the comprehensive policy.
The tribunal accepted undisputed repair invoices totaling $5,657.71, including a NOx sensor repair tied to the contamination. Because Cleanway pursued its claim through the tribunal's small claims process, Rivers capped damages at the $5,000 limit, added $251.88 in pre-judgment interest and $175 in fees, and ordered ICBC to pay $5,426.88 within 14 days.
For claims professionals, the decision shows how an insured can satisfy the malicious mischief standard through elimination rather than eyewitness proof - and how thinly supported denials can unravel when expert evidence on the mechanics points the other way.
