ICBC review finds no support for concerns of cases needlessly taken to trial and unnecessarily generating increased legal costs
BC NDP government Attorney General, David Eby,
has released the findings of a ministry review of ICBC’s claim settlement and
litigation practices.
The review, which was conducted by ministry
legal counsel in summer 2018, had the following goals:
... assessing ICBC’s bodily injury claim
settlement, and litigation practices, from a litigation perspective
This included assessing whether ICBC policy,
or practice, contributes to increasing injury settlement and litigation
costs.
The review examined whether ICBC was
responsible in any observable, systematic way, for making inappropriately low
settlement offers. Additionally, the review
was charged with looking in to whether cases were being needlessly taken to
trial and thereby unnecessarily generating legal costs.
The review found no support for these
concerns.
The report did however recommend improvements
in ICBC’s claims management, and found that the current legal framework (for
resolving motor vehicle claims disputes) is unsustainable.
The review was conducted using aggregate
data, as well as 100 randomly selected claims files which had been closed
between 2013 and 2017. The files included those involving minor injury claims,
as well as major or catastrophic injury claims.
The review also included files where
claimants were both represented, and unrepresented, by legal counsel, as well
as files where a lawsuit was filed and files where a lawsuit was not filed.
According to the government ICBC has, and
will continue to, take steps that will address the operational recommendations
contained in the report. Additionally, the Ministry of the Attorney General
will address broader concerns through ongoing work to reform automobile
insurance in British Columbia.
This review was conducted as part of the
government’s ongoing efforts to reduce costs, complexity and delays in motor
vehicle accident disputes and put ICBC on a path that makes the Crown
corporation work for British Columbians again.
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