Open letter to FSCO:
Honourable J. Douglas
Cunningham, former Associate Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior
Court of Justice.
Senior Manager,
Insurance Policy Unit
Industrial and Financial Policy Branch
Ministry of Finance
95 Grosvenor Street, 4th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Z1
Industrial and Financial Policy Branch
Ministry of Finance
95 Grosvenor Street, 4th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Z1
Dear FSCO:
According to the Ontario Automobile Insurance Dispute Resolution System Review Interim report,
beginning in 2007 FSCO
began to experience a dramatic increase in Applications for
Mediation.
In 2006 – 07,
FSCO received 13,053 new applications and in 2011–
12,
received 35,727 applications — a
174 per cent increase.
As
a result, FSCO was not able to meet the legislated 60- day time line
for mediation and a backlog of files awaiting assignment to a
mediator developed.
At
the end of December 2011, there was a backlog of approximately 30,700
files,
FSCO
was receiving an average of 2,949 new Applications for Mediation
every month and claimants
were waiting in excess of 11 months for mediation.
The
FSCO backlog created forced settlements.
Victims
of insurance had no choice but to sign forced settlements because
Insurance Companies cut benefits off just
before settlement.
When
victims were told that mediation could take up to or more than a year
to get heard. We had no choice. With no income, no justice, disabled,
what can you do, we got screwed.
By
purposely creating this backlog, these forced settlements were
illegal, immoral, and insurance companies profited greatly by them.
I
suggest that all the victims of these forced settlements be
compensated.
Why
not
a class action lawsuit
in this regard?
No
names have been posted on
this blog in
accordance to the forced settlement agreement. That’s
why you don’t hear from the victims of insurance.
Sincerely,
Administrator,
4 comments:
Monday, 16 December 2013 08:00 | Written By Yamri Taddese
The 2012-13 auditor general’s report shows an attractive market has opened up for lawyers who now do a chunk of the dispute resolution work for the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, but their peers in the personal injury bar are still unhappy with the timelines for arbitration once the mediation process fails.
‘There’s a sense in our office that there is a delay in getting dates for arbitration and pre-arbitration dates,’ says John McLeish.
In her report last week, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk noted that two years ago, the province approved FSCO’s request for an additional $38.2 million over three years to hire outside alternative dispute resolution services to supplement the work performed by its own staff. At the time, the FSCO system was suffering from a severe mediation backlog issue that frustrated lawyers and their clients.
Now, with help from ADR Chambers, Lysyk noted “the backlog had been eliminated.”
“According to FSCO, backlogged mediation cases were being assigned to the service provider at the rate of 2,000 files per month. New applications received on or after November 29, 2012, were being assigned to FSCO mediators within a couple of days,” according to Lysyk.
There were 29,000 cases waiting for assignment in March 2012, she noted. But as of August 2013 “all mediation files had been assigned . . . and the backlog had been eliminated.”
Personal injury lawyers say they can now get mediation dates three months after they apply, a massive improvement from a year-long wait a few years ago.
While it’s a good accomplishment, lawyer Darcy Merkur says personal injury counsel now have a new hurdle. Once mediation fails, getting arbitration dates involves a lengthier process, says Merkur, a partner at Thomson Rogers.
“Now when we file for mediation, we’re confident we’ll get a mediation date in a timely way. The hurdle has become that after the mediation fails, getting an arbitration date is prolonged. We’ve now switched the bottleneck from the front end to the next end.”
It normally takes about nine months to get from a failed mediation to arbitration, Merkur adds, noting he’s now seeing even longer timelines.
Lawyers at personal injury law firm McLeish Orlando LLP have also noticed the arbitration bottleneck.
“There’s a sense in our office that there is a delay in getting dates for arbitration and pre-arbitration dates,” says John McLeish.
According to the auditor general, the elimination of the mediation backlog is partly the result of fewer applications for mediation received each month.
“In 2012/13, FSCO received approximately 25,300 new applications for mediation, a 29 per cent decrease from the 35,700 applications received in 2011/12,” wrote Lysyk.
“FSCO indicated that this decrease was likely due to the September 2010 legislative changes to the [statutory accident benefits schedule] that helped reduce the number of disputes, as well as the auto insurance industry’s increased focus on fraud.”
Source: http://www.lawtimesnews.com/201312163673/headline-news/auditor-general-credits-province-with-eliminating-fsco-mediation-backlog
Between 2007 and 2012 FSCO experienced an unprecedented 99 per cent increase in Applications for Mediation, which resulted in a substantial backlog of files.
FSCO successfully implemented an aggressive action plan to address the backlog. This included initiatives such as the eCalendar, Consent Failures, mandatory settlement blitz days, and the use of a private service provider to supplement FSCO’s mediation and arbitration services. As a result, the mediation backlog has been reduced to 1,016, down from 29,142 files at the end of March 2012. The backlog will be eliminated by the end of August 2013.
There are no longer any wait times for new Applications for Mediation, which are assigned to FSCO mediators within a couple of days of receipt.
$38.2 million over three years to hire outside alternative dispute resolution services to supplement the work performed by its own staff. Insurance company’s should pay this, they created the backlog by not paying victims benefits.
Meanwhile the victims wait for benefits from a CPP Disability claim that do the same thing as the insurance company's. Delay and Deny.
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