| Attendees: | ||
| Insurer Representatives | FSCO – DRS | |
| Mike De La Haye –Wawanesa - (Chairperson) | Asfaw Seife - FSCO | |
| Dave Alpert – belairdirect – (Co-chair) | John Lobo – FSCO | |
| John Berriault – ING | Janine Macey – FSCO | |
| Mark Cekuta – ING | Margaret Orlander - FSCO | |
| Wayne Clay – Wawanesa | A.Rozdilsky - FSCO | |
| Tina Maasland – TD Meloche Monnex | ||
Amarin Tsujimura – RSA |
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| Tom Walsh – Dominion of Canada | ||
Shabnam Shamlou - ING |
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Pierre Gravesande – Economical |
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Jay Zealand – TD Meloche Monnex |
| The Dispute Resolution Group - Companies Forum includes repesentatives from auto insurance companies dealing with disputes before the Commission involving motor vehicle accident claims and Statutory Accident Benefits. It consults with the Dispute Resolution Group of Financial Services Commission of Ontario on issues relating to the dispute resolution system. |
Review and Approval of Minutes from September 11, 2008 Meeting
There were no changes save for editing involving spelling applied to the DRS excellence update by Janine Macey.
DRS Excellence Update by Janine Macey
There were no significant updates except that technology upgrades are continuing. Input will be sought from insurers on an ongoing basis.
Outreach Committee Update
The London area continues to be a priority for caseload management with a pilot program in effect. Mediators and arbitrators will attend in London for 2-3 days in April, 2009 to complete mediations, pre-hearing and settlement discussions. The law society is liaising with members of FSCO’s Outreach Committee to decide on the content of future paralegal training courses related to FSCO.
Discussion – recent decisions affecting DRS by Asfaw Seife
Asfaw Seife provided a synopsis memo of three FSCO appeal cases:
# P04-00033, May 25, 2006: ‘DaRosa and Allstate Insurance’ leave to appeal from the Divisional Court decision denied
# P06-00027, September 24, 2007: ‘Watson and TTC Insurance’ judicial review application dismissed
# P08-00012, October 10, 2008: ‘Jetty and ING Insurance’ judicial review received end November 2008
DRS Statistics and Staffing
Mediation by John Lobo: Five additional mediators have been added in recognition of an increasing caseload.
Arbitration by J. Macey: increased mediation applications have resulted in a higher arbitration caseload. The age of decisions has increased beyond the 85-day benchmark, which is a concern.
Appeals by A. Seife: the yearly average remains stable at 40 some cases.
Loss Transfer
When private arbitrations take place each insurer is subject to funding the cost of the proceeding. At issue are which benefits and expenses should be paid, what is compensable, what is not, interest ramifications, and PIPEDA matters. The Dispute Resolution Group Companies Forum has forwarded a letter to the Insurance Bureau of Canada requesting a review for the purpose of standardization and implementation of a protocol for all insurers.
Mediation Backlog by John Lobo
A total of 1,353 applications were received in November, with total pending open files at 6,878. This represents an increase over September of 399 mediation files and on an annual basis an increase of 2,192 files.
There has been no increase in pre-mediation settlements.
Other Business
Mark Cekuta proposed that the F.S.C.O. ensure that the website based arbitration records also provide the corresponding insurer claim numbers. A resort to an alpha search to identify the applicable claimant is an inefficient and time-consuming process. The issue continues to be unresolved.
Minutes by Wayne Clay, Wawanesa Mutual
Financial Services Commission of Ontario