In July 2023, the basement of a lakeside home in the Mauricie region was flooded. The insurance company refused to indemnify the homeowners because of an exclusion in the policy. The court ruled in favour of the insurer and dismissed the insureds’ claim.

The parties presented their arguments on June 9, 2026, in Shawinigan before Judge Nathalie Lavigne of the Saint-Maurice district of the Court of Québec. In her decision rendered on August 12, 2026 and published exclusively in French, she dismissed the claim brought by the insureds, Denis Robitaille and Yvon Paquette, and ruled in favour of Bélair Insurance Company.

Heavy rain fell in the Charest Lake area on July 11, 2023, causing the lake to overflow and flood part of the homeowners’ property. That same day, more than 15 cm of water accumulated in the basement.

The damage was estimated at more than $30,000, but the plaintiffs chose to limit their claim to $15,000 so that the dispute could be heard by the Small Claims Division of the Court of Québec. Charest Lake is in the municipality of Notre-Dame-de-Montauban, at the northern boundary of the Mékinac RCM.

The policy

The home insurance policy covers, among other things, “all risks that may directly affect the insured property.” However, it includes an exclusion for flooding, including the overflow of any waterway. The exclusion “applies regardless of the existence of any other cause or loss (whether covered or not) that contributes concurrently or in any sequence to the loss, damage or expense,” the insurer states in its policy. The other additional and optional coverages contain the same exclusion.

The court noted that an insurance policy is a contract of adhesion. Any exclusion clause must be interpreted restrictively. If the provision is ambiguous, the court may rule in favour of the insured.

In this case, the insureds argued that the exclusion clause should not apply because an exception to the exclusion has been recognized in case law. According to them, the true cause of the damage “lies in the obstruction of the French drain or in certain deficiencies in the foundations,” which would have allowed water to seep in. Because water from the lake did not directly enter their home, they argued that the exclusion should therefore not apply.

The evidence

The court rejected the argument because the evidence established that the damage occurred while the property was affected by the lake overflowing. The land on which the home stands was flooded by the overflowing lake on the day of the loss. At the same time, water damaged the basement of the home. The court therefore found that the flooding contributed to the loss, even if that cause may have been indirect.

The policy explicitly excludes this coverage. Where other causes are present, the exclusion remains enforceable against the insureds if flooding forms part of the causal chain leading to the loss. The other causes suggested by the insureds do not negate the role played by the overflowing lake, Judge Lavigne added.

Although the court was sympathetic to the damage suffered by the insureds, it “cannot disregard the limits of the insurance coverage they purchased or rewrite the terms of the contract entered into between the parties.”

A major weather event

The precipitation associated with this July 2023 event was part of the same “atmospheric river” episode that caused significant damage, including in Sherbrooke and Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval, northeast of Quebec City.

According to the August 2, 2023, edition of the Gazette officielle du Québec, Quebec’s Minister of Public Security issued a ministerial order on July 21, 2023, making the municipality of Notre-Dame-de-Montauban and several dozen others eligible for the General Financial Assistance Program Regarding Disasters (PGAF).

The ministerial order refers to heavy rainfall that occurred from July 7 to 11, 2023, in several municipalities. The municipality of Saint-Ubalde (Portneuf RCM), through which the Charest River flows and which is fed by the lake of the same name, was also included on the list of municipalities eligible for PGAF financial assistance for expenses related to repairing local infrastructure damaged during the same event. The same program may also provide financial assistance and compensation to eligible disaster victims.