The recent case of Scarlett v. Belair Insurance Decision Date: 2013-03-26, Adjudicator: John Wilson, Regulation: 34/10, Decision: Arbitration, Preliminary Issue, FSCO 3965 is the first reported Minor Injury Guideline (MIG) case.
The gist of the decisions stand for the proposition that injured insureds should not be required to take extraordinary steps, or be forced to make leaps and bounds to prove that treatment they require for recovery does not fall within the MIG. In fact it is the opposite that is true. Once insureds, through their care providors, establish with convincing evidence that they will not meet maximum recovery within the MIG limit, the insurer must provide payment for the treatement unless they can prove that the insured is subject to the MIG. It can be said that the applicaiton of the MIG should be considered the exceptiopn rather than the rule.
Posted At: 8:03pm 05/07/13
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Comments Off (0)From the Hamilton Spectator
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada have a new commander.
Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence Hatfield took charge of the regiment in a rainy parade celebration at Bayfront Park Sunday, succeeding Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Sexton.
“I’m very privileged today,” Hatfield said. “Our history is time-honoured, written in battle and blood.”
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada are a Hamilton-based army reserve unit within 31 Canadian Brigade Group. Formed in 1903, it has 34 battle honours from the First and Second World Wars.
Posted At: 7:06pm 09/25/12 Comments Off (0)TORONTO, June 12, 2012 /CNW/ – The Ontario government is about to implement another round of cuts to auto insurance benefits, this time slashing coverage for devastating injuries.
“If the government goes ahead with this, it will hurt a lot of very vulnerable people,” says Nick Gurevich, President of the Alliance of Community Medical and Rehabilitation Providers.
Severely Injured May No Longer Be Protected
Accident victims with severe brain injuries or paralysis, for example, may find they no longer qualify for catastrophic coverage. Those unable to work again, who face years of therapy and life in a wheelchair, may be denied the benefits they need.
Posted At: 2:08pm 06/12/12 Comments Off (0)http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1167459–auto-insurers-routinely-deny-treatment-plans-therapists-say
By Ellen Roseman | Tue Apr 24 2012 The Toronto Star
Suppose you’re driving your car with three passengers and you hit a deer. No one is hurt, except the animal.
Your insurance company quickly pays $24,000 to cover repairs to your damaged car. It’s happy to protect you from financial harm after an accident.
Now suppose you and your passengers are all injured after hitting the deer. This time, the insurance company is slower to respond.
It may turn down your requests to be repaid for rehabilitation treatments not covered by the health care system (such as physiotherapy or psychological counselling). It may treat you as fakers, exaggerating your injuries.
Posted At: 1:49pm 04/25/12 Comments Off (0)The recent Auditor General Report in highly critical of the Ontario Government’s regulation of the cost of insurance in Ontario.
As quoted by the CBC at http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/12/05/auditor-general-ontario-spending.html?cmp=rss :
The number of people killed or injured in auto accidents in Ontario fell 25 per cent in a decade, but the government still guarantees insurers a “reasonable rate of return” of 12 per cent. That figure was last adjusted in 1996, when the long-term bond rate it was based on was 10 per cent.
Posted At: 4:00pm 12/08/11 Comments Off (0)AFGHANISTAN AND THE RULE OF LAW
The invitation to the Red Mass announced my topic this morning as the “Rule of Law in Afghanistan.” As an officer with Hamilton’s Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, I recently spent 8 months in Afghanistan with another Argyll officer helping to train the Afghan National Army. Because I am also a personal injury lawyer here in Hamilton, the topic of the “Rule of Law in Afghanistan”, I suppose, seemed an obvious one for a lawyer and a soldier but I am certain that most of you would be hard-pressed, given the almost daily coverage of Canada’s mission, to think that the rule of law had anything to do with Afghanistan. I will not disabuse you of that notion. My topic is more centred on the rule of law and Ontario than it is on Afghanistan although I will certainly touch upon it. Imagine: Warring factionalism, invading armies, hostile groups, the widespread use of political violence, the tentative hold of the administration of justice, political instability, and the use of public execution to make brutal examples to an uncertain populace.
