Meeting - Wednesday April 21, 2004

Dispute Resolution Group Companies Forum Minutes of Meeting 21st April, 2004

Attendees:

Insurer Representative FSCO – DRS

Adam Fox (Chair) Belair (Chair) Shonna Neil
Iain Convery Allianz Asfaw Seife
Martine Vaz ING Willie Handler
Cassandra Phillips AXA Bruce Green
Brenda Dyke Aviva Fred Sampliner
Margaret Morrison Aviva
Mario Silvestre Co-operators

The Dispute Resolution Group – Companies Forum includes representatives 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.

Opening

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. on 21st April, 2004

There were no Minutes of previous meeting for approval

Expert Assessor Network (EAN) – update (Willie Handler)

• 97 responses received before deadline of April 14th.
  
  
• Philippa Samworth has been asked to meet with stakeholders and review. She is summarizing and then FSCO will issue a further bulletin.
  
  
• Next update by early summer, hope to have a system in place be early fall.
  
  
• There could be a further round of consultations with the stakeholders.

DRS Operational Changes (Bruce Green)

Paralegals

• Oversee's unit that manages complaints of paralegals etc.
  
  
• 2 avenues for action:
  
  
• Cease & desist – letter of caution (may also be a letter agreeing not to be involved in SABS issues for a specified time period.
  
  
• Prosecution – court action.
  
  
• Lots of complaints.
  
  
• Major communications issue – is FSCO regulating the paralegals. Answer – no, FSCO just requires registration and administration of E&O coverage, conduct agreement etc.
  
  
• FSCO audited 265 paralegals on the list. 24 had no E&O coverage or never responded to letter requesting details and were removed from the list.
  
  
• Once delisted – can get back on, depends how they were removed.
  
  
• Results of the investigation will be published on a FSCO bulletin (like the Life Agents).
  
  
• There is some liaison with the IBC.
  
  
• Question raised re confidentiality issue over SABS reps at mediation (if issues re conduct known). Insurer can still make a complaint to the Ombudsman's office.

Mediation – status report (Shonna Neil)

• No issues with reported figures.
  
  
• 40 mediators now operational.
  
  
• FSCO target is 10% face-to-face meetings.

Arbitration & Appeals – status report (Asfaw Seife)

• Arbitration Applications continued to increase - the quarter ending in Jan-31/ 04 showed a 27% increase over the quarter before that. Fiscal year 03/04 saw an overall increase of 21.8 per cent in applications over 02/03
  
  
• This volume is as a result, mainly, of the increase in mediation applications which started to move into arbitration
  
  
• Settlement rates during the arbitration stage increased by 6.1 per cent in 03/04 compared to 02/03;
  
  
• The proportion of decisions issued within the published time frame of 85 days after the conclusion of the hearing remained steady (73% from 75%)
  
  
• Activity in arbitration in terms of pre-hearings / hearings / settlement discussions and decisions issued remained relatively stable. There is a rising trend in - the number of hearings held in the last quarter of 03/04 (51) rose by about 28 per cent over the previous quarter (39).
  
  
• Senior Arbitrator position in process of being posted.
  
  
• 2 Arbitrator positions approved and process underway.
  
  
• Appeal stats - no significant changes in applications received.

DRS Operational Changes – continued (Shonna Neil)

Practice Code

• 5th release – under review.
  
  
• E-filing is the main focus.
  
  
• FSCO request for contact persons from Dispute Resolution Group.
  
  
• Also requesting comments on issues re the Practice Code.
  
  
• There will be a transition period for the new Application for Mediation forms, FSCO suggests 3 months.
  
  
• Some changes have already been made after the new Bill 198 Regs.

Arbitrators report (Fred Sampliner)

• This will be a regular feature – with an arbitrator attending on a rotational basis.
  
  
• Arbitration unit has several internal committees that deal with ongoing legal updates.
  
  
• Also involved in the Outreach Committee. There is schedule published for when and
  where the workshops will be, not on the website (which is being redesigned). Cost is $100 to $200 per person for those wishing to attend.
  
  
• Open to questions re recent decisions but not as an appeal process!

Other Business

• Issue with Assessment fees – appears to be double charges (Iain Convery), not seen by others.
  
  
• Martine's issues (from previous meetings). Adam to review questions and he will put them to FSCO for a formal answer. They can be addressed at the next meeting.
  
  
• Face to face issue (Margaret Morrison). Issue with scheduling meeting. Whether file cannot be settled should not be reason why face to face not be allowed.
  
  
• Mediation Applications show payments outstanding but insurer's state these expenses are paid. FSCO asked whether this process can be changed. FSCO stated that only 30% of response are receives so this is not a big issue.
  
  
• Loss Transfer: Margaret will approach IBC on behalf of DRG to see if a committee can be formed to review Loss Transfer Procedure codes which may reduce Arbitrations between insurers and set down clearly defined practices.

Next Meetings 23rd June, 2004 10 a.m FSCO
29th September, 2004 10 a.m. FSCO

Minutes submitted by Iain Convery, Allianz Canada