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More than 50% of all AB claims falling under the MIG


May 16, 2011   by Canadian Underwriter


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Preliminary surveys are showing that greater than 50% of all claims, post-September 1, 2010, are currently falling under the Minor Injury Guideline (MIG), advised Kadey B.J. Schultz, partner with Hughes Amy LLP.
Companies with preferred vendors are seeing even higher numbers of initial claims going into the MIG than those without preferred vendors. But in both instances more than half of all claims are falling within the MIG, she added while speaking at a seminar hosted by the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association’s Ontario Chapter in Toronto on May 13.
While this is not far off from the 55-65% figure originally advised by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), Schultz warns that the issue is not how many fall into the MIG at the outset, but how many stay in the MIG, which will only be borne out by time and the development of case law.
And this will remain to be seen for some time yet, as applications for mediation at FSCO have jumped a staggering amount with over 28,000 files at present, and more than a nine-month delay in FSCO’s acknowledgement and processing of the first stage of the dispute resolution process.
“We are starting to see disputes emerge for claims that are being put in the MIG, but we won’t see any case law for many months if not years” Schultz added.
Ultimately, even when the decisions from FSCO start to come in, the data surrounding the MIG will not be complete, she added.
Settlements of cases where the insurer has paid more than the $3,500 hard cap for minor injury claims will not be accurately reflected within the statistics, Schultz said in closing.


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