Dennis Ong

Dennis is policyholder counsel representing the interests of corporate and sophisticated policyholders in their complex disputes as against insurance companies.  

Dennis has litigated a wide range of insurance-related disputes as insurance defence counsel for 17 years. For almost a decade, Dennis worked as senior litigation counsel at one of Canada’s largest property & casualty and commercial insurers, where he defended commercial insureds and advanced the interests of insurers. Dennis now represents sophisticated policyholders, leveraging his unique perspective as former insurance defence counsel to provide clients with a strategic advantage in challenging, complex disputes against insurance companies. Dennis has a deep understanding of the complexities of insurance policies and excels at distilling them into compelling arguments in court.

Dennis has particular expertise in reviewing, interpreting, and analyzing commercial general liability, primary, umbrella, and excess insurance policies in the context of sophisticated towers of insurance. Dennis has extensive experience in insurance claims involving large loss property damage, business interruption, indemnity & defence costs, representations & warranties, cyber & data breach, errors & omissions, Directors & Officers, class action settlement recovery, environmental & pollution, and legacy & long-tail claims.

Dennis has appeared as lead counsel on both jury and non-jury trials and appeals. He has argued many long motions, including summary judgment, Rule 21 and complex insurance coverage applications, both as applicant and respondent counsel.  He has successfully appeared before the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Divisional Court, the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Justice, the Small Claims Court, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal.

Dennis has written for legal journals and prominent publications, including the Annual Review of Civil Litigation, and has been published in a textbook, Virtual Advocacy: Litigating from a Distance. Dennis is a constant contributor to the legal profession. He is a member of the Ontario Bar Association, Insurance Section Executive, having previously served as Chair and Past Chair. He is also an originating and active committee member of the Tort Law Moot, an appellate moot for Ontario law schools featuring guest judges from the Superior Court & Court of Appeal for Ontario.

In 2021, Dennis was appointed as a Deputy Judge of the Small Claims Court for the Central East Region of the Superior Court of Justice, where he presides over trials and contested hearings.