Number of Ontario auto claims settlements without a mediator triples: FSCO arbitrator

An arbitrator at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) says resolving auto accident benefits claims disputes “on a timely basis” has become “an increasingly critical issue” in the province’s alternate dispute resolution (ADR) system.

In his decision in Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company and Jaswinder Singh, FSCO director delegate Lawrence Blackman cited FSCO statistics that show “a fourfold increase from 2007 to 2010 to some 14,000 pending mediation cases, and a tripling of claims in the system settling without a meeting with a mediator.”

Based on the increased number of claims settled without a mediator, Blackman questioned what happens if parties settle an auto accident benefits claim, but then can’t agree on the execution of the release of the settlement.

Blackman found against the insurer in Dominion and Singh, in which Dominion sought a certification for signature by the claimant’s lawyer that he had fully explained the settlement release to his client (the claimant).

The claimant’s lawyer successfully argued that the certification represented a breach of solicitor-client privilege. •