Lawyers for Uber Canada Inc. say the ride-hailing app has plenty of insurance coverage for its drivers, but it needs to keep the details secret for competitive business reasons.

In fact, the insurance policy, which covers up to $5 million (U.S.) for drivers, is so secret that very few people have seen it, even within Uber, according to a court affidavit.

The company will be asking a judge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday to seal all details about the insurance policy, arguing the company’s “competitive advantage” would be lost with disclosure.

If the information became public, then companies marketing competitor apps could simply copy the terms, Uber says.

Henry Gustav Fulder, director of insurance for parent company Uber Technologies Inc. in San Francisco, states in an affidavit that the company’s insurance policy is not a standard automobile liability product.

Rather, it is a new product specifically designed to address the peer-to-peer transportation market — where Uber links ordinary drivers using their personal vehicles with riders through its smartphone app.

Uber’s wholly owned subsidiary Rasier holds contracts with Uber’s drivers. Raisier said it spent seven months working with its insurance broker and multiple insurers in Canada and other countries to develop a policy to meet their needs.

“Procuring this coverage for Canada was accomplished after similar products were developed for Rasier or affiliated companies for us in Europe and the United States, but before P2P (peer-to-peer) services could be requested through the Uber App in Canada,” Fulder states in the affidavit.

He added there were special terms with respect to the scope of coverage provided. “I am not aware of any insurance policy that provided such coverage (or even similar coverage) for this use in Canada, prior to the development of the insurance policy,” Fulder said.

He noted that the insurance policy has been kept strictly confidential since it was developed. “Even within the companies, the policy is shared only a tightly restricted, need-to-know basis,” Fulder said.

“Moreover, to my knowledge, with the exception of the companies’ legal counsel, the broker that produced the policy, and the third-party claims administrator that administers insurance claims for the policy, the policy has never been shared with any third party,” he said.

Uber spokeswoman Susie Heath decline to comment on the motion, citing company policy not to discuss matters before the courts.

The motion seeking a court order to seal the information is related to the City of Toronto’s application for a court injunction to block Uber’s operations here. That hearing is scheduled to be heard in May.

Uber argues it is not a taxi service, so it doesn’t need to be licensed.

Insurance coverage plays a key part in the city’s case, according to an affidavit filed by Tracey Cook, the city’s director of municipal licensing and standards.

She notes that the city’s licensing regime contains insurance requirements because “the adequacy of insurance” is a critical public safety issue.

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But Cook says Uber’s flouting of the city’s licensing regime “does not permit the city to investigate whether Uber’s insurance in fact meets its requirements or lives up to the bald-faced representations Uber makes with respect to its alleged $5,000,000 policy.”

In November, the City of Mississauga also began legal proceedings for an injunction against Uber, but suspended its application pending the outcome of Toronto’s case.

Last month, a justice of peace put 36 Toronto bylaw infractions charges against Uber, from 2012 to 2014, on hold, until completion of the injunction of hearing.

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