Erik S. Knutsen is an award-winning teacher and researcher at Queen’s Law who uniquely melds international scholarly impact with the on-the-ground impact that legal research can have for practicing lawyers and judges. A skilled advocate and educator who combines wit with compassion, he is renowned for his ability to communicate complex legal principles in easily understandable ways – whether in a classroom, a courtroom, professional education event or in the media. Alongside his scholarly pursuits, Professor Knutsen actively engages with practicing lawyers and judges and enjoys a reputation for his down-to-earth approach to legal matters. In addition to being awarded Queen’s Law’s teaching award three times, he was honoured with the university-wide Baillie teaching award at Queen’s University in 2018 for his impactful and innovative teaching. He is proud to hail from Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario. 

Professor Knutsen studies the areas of the law that determines what happens when people are in the wrong place at the wrong time and suffer some harm: insurance law, tort, civil procedure and the civil litigation system, health law and medical liability. His scholarly writing has impacted the development of the law in a number of ways, including the law of causation in negligence and medical malpractice cases as well as in insurance, how courts interpret insurance policy language, and how the costs of legal work are determined.

He earned an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, a J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a B.A. (Hons.) from Lakehead University. He served as Associate Dean (Academic) from 2018-2020. He was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at Florida State University College of Law, where he also earned a teaching award.

Professor Knutsen is the author or co-author of a number of leading Canadian and American treatises used by courts and lawyers, including Halsburys Laws of Canada – Insurance, Canadian Tort Law (with Linden, Feldthusen, Hall and Young), Civil Litigation, 2d ed. (with Walker, Sossin and Kennedy) and Stempel & Knutsen on Insurance Coverage (a leading 3,000 page treatise on American insurance law). He has also co-authored leading teaching texts used in law schools across the country and in the United States, including Canadian Insurance Law: Cases, Notes and Materials (with Stempel), The Civil Litigation Process (with Walker, Kennedy, and Piche), and Principles of Insurance Law (a leading American insurance law casebook, co-authored with Stempel). 

 

He is the author or co-author of more than 70 scholarly articles, papers and other publications on the topics of tort, insurance, and civil litigation. His work has been cited by Canadian, American, and European appellate and trial courts, as well as by scholars around the world. He has presented his work at academic and professional venues in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. He is frequently involved with professional and judicial education initiatives and is a regularly invited speaker at continuing legal education events. He is regularly contacted by national and international media because of his ability to talk about legal matters in an accessible way for everyday readers.

 

Professor Knutsen is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the European Law Institute, the International Association of Procedural Law, and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel. He is appointed to Ontario's Civil Rules Committee, the group that oversees reform to the rules of civil procedure for the province.

He has practiced tort and insurance litigation in New York at Paul, Weiss LLP where he assisted with 9/11 World Trade Center cases, in Toronto at Fasken Martineau LLP and in Thunder Bay at Carrel + Partners LLP. He is a member of the bar of Ontario, Canada. Professor Knutsen regularly consults with lawyers on cases heading to trial or appeal, including cases at the Supreme Court of Canada, American courts, and other courts and tribunals around the world.

Research:

  • Insurance law
  • Torts
  • Civil litigation and civil procedure
  • Health law and medical liability

Recent Professional Achievements:

  • Elected member of the American Law Institute, Fellow of the European Law Institute, Member of the International Association of Procedural Law, and Honorary Fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel
  • Awarded Queen’s University Chancellor Charles H. Baillie university-wide teaching award in 2018
  • Awarded federal SSHRC Insight Grant for project “Floods, Fires, Crashes: Resolving Post-Disaster Insurance Coverage Conflicts in Canada,” 2015-2019
  • Awarded Queen’s Law Teaching Award in 2014, 2010, and 2007

Recent Publications:

For a complete list of publications, please consult Professor Knutsen's CV.

Books

  • Canadian Tort Law, 13th ed. (LexisNexis: 2025) (with Bruce Feldthusen, Margaret Hall and Hilary Young).
  • Canadian Insurance Law: Cases, Notes and Materials (LexisNexis: 2025) (with Jeffrey W. Stempel).
  • Civil Litigation, 2d ed. (UTP: 2025) (with Janet Walker, Lorne Sossin & Gerard Kennedy).
  • Halsbury's Laws of Canada – Insurance (LexisNexis: 2023).
  • Stempel & Knutsen on Insurance Coverage, 4th ed. (WoltersKluewer: looseleaf) (2 volume, 3,006 page treatise on American insurance law) (with Jeffrey W. Stempel).
  • Principles of Insurance Law, 5th ed. (Carolina Academic Press: 2020) (American casebook)(with Jeffrey W. Stempel).
  • The Civil Litigation Process: Cases and Materials, 9th ed. (Emond Montgomery: 2022) (Canadian civil procedure casebook) (with Janet Walker, Gerard Kennedy and Catherine Piche).

Book Chapters

  • "Insurance and 'Green' Liability: How Liability Insurers Can Propel Climate Change Action" in Cherie Metcalf & Stephanie Stern, eds., INSTITUTIONS AND EFFECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION (UTP: forthcoming, 2025).
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, “Safety in Numbers: Toward More Comprehensive Approaches to Difficult Risks” in Oslem Gurses & Baris Soyer, INSURABILITY OF EMERGING RISKS – LAW, THEORY & PRACTICE (Hart Publishing: 2025). [SSRN]
  • “The Civil Jury in Canada: Evading the Inscrutable and Upholding Justice Through Community Standards” in D. Wilson, ed., ANNUAL REVIEW OF CIVIL LITIGATION, 2023 (2023). [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "American Exceptionalism: The COVID-19 Insurance Experience" in Maria Luisa Munos Parades, ed., COVID-19 and Insurance (Springer: 2022).
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "Textual Literalism, Formalism and Canon-Centric Construction as De Facto – and Defective – Artificial Intelligence" in III International Congress on Insurance Law (2022). [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, Bringing Rigor to Textualism Through Artificial Intelligence" in III International Congress on Insurance Law (2022). [SSRN]

Articles

  • "The Insurance Policy: Contract or Not? (and Why That Matters for Insurance Coverage Cases)" (2025) 7 Supreme Ct L Rev 95. [SSRN]
  • "Real-World Insurance Policy Interpretation in Canada" (2025) Can Bus LJ (forthcoming).
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "Insuring Fortuity – and Intent: A Comment on Professor French's Insuring Intentional Torts" (2022) 83 Ohio St L J Online 218. [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "Technologically Improving Textualism" (2022) 6 Nevada LJ Forum 10. [SSRN]
  • "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Insurance Coverage for Business Interruption in Canada" (2021) 46 Queen's LJ 431. [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "Rejecting Word Worship: An Integrative Approach to Judicial Construction of Insurance Policies" (2021) 90 U Cincinnati L Rev 561. [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "Infected Judgment: Problematic Rush to Conventional Wisdom and Insurance Coverage Denial in a Pandemic" (2021) 27 Connecticut Insurance LJ 247. [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "Protecting Auto Accident Victims from the Insurer Identity Crisis" (2019) 26 Connecticut Insurance LJ 1. [SSRN]
  • with Jeffrey W. Stempel, "The Techno-Neutrality Solution to Navigating Insurance Coverage for Cyber Losses" (2018) 122 Penn State L Rev 645. [SSRN]
  • "The Medical Malpractice Landscape in Ontario: Facts, Trends and Analysis of Trials and Appeals,” (2017) 47 Advocates Q 131-164. [SSRN]
  • "Patchwork Contextualism in the Anglo-Canadian Law of Insurance Policy Interpretation: Implications for the Principles of the Law of Liability Insurance,” (2015) 68 Rutgers U L Rev 415-453. [SSRN]
  • “Fortuity Victims and the Compensation Gap: Re-envisioning Liability Insurance Coverage for Intentional and Criminal Conduct,” (2014) 21 Connecticut Insurance Law LJ 209-253.[SSRN]
  • “Causation in Canadian Insurance Law,” (2013) 50 Alberta L Rev 631-658. (28 pages) [SSRN]
  • “Auto Insurance as Social Contract: Solving Automobile Insurance Coverage Disputes Through a Public Regulatory Framework,” (2011) 48 Alberta Law Rev 715. [SSRN]
  • "Fortuity Clauses in Liability Insurance: Solving Coverage Dilemmas for Intentional and Criminal Conduct" (2011) 36 Queen's LJ 73. [SSRN]
  • “Confusion About Causation in Insurance: Solutions for Catastrophic Losses,” (2010) 61 Alabama L Rev 957. [SSRN]
  • "Keeping Settlements Secret" (2010) 37 Florida State U L Rev 945. [SSRN]
  • "The Cost of Costs: The Unfortunate Deterrence of Everyday Civil Litigation in Canada" (2010) 36 Queen's LJ 113. [SSRN]
  • "Clarifying Causation in Tort" (2010) 33 Dalhousie LJ 153. [SSRN]

Media

  • "TDSB's suit over devastating York Memorial Fire can proceed" Toronto Star (September 22, 2025).
  • “Insurers report growing profits as Canadian premiums soar” Toronto Star (Aug. 16, 2024).
  • “Shoppers Drug Mart faces class-action suit by pharmacist over ‘unsafe and unethical’ corporate practices” Toronto Star (April 17, 2024).
  • “Couple fear they could be saddled with Air Canada’s legal bill for court challenge over $2,000 compensation” Globe and Mail (Jan. 26, 2024).
  • “Ex-Nurse Convicted in Fatal Medication Error Gets Probation” New York Times (May 15, 2022).
  • “Fears of Losing Insurance Prompt Some Truckers to Leave Weeks-Long Protest” Newsweek (Feb.18, 2022).
  • "Insult to Injury" CTV National News Television (May 1, 2021).
  • "Flood Insurance: What You Need To Know" CBC Ontario Morning (May 9, 2017).
  • "Provincial Legislation Brings Down Auto Insurance Costs for Consumers" CBC News Radio (April 11, 2017).