2021: Another Year of the LAT (and it isn’t getting faster)

Written by Duncan Macgillivray / Accident Benefits, Automobile, Insurance / January 07, 2022

UPDATED STATS

As we bid farewell to 2021, OTLA has updated the Licence Appeal Tribunal statistics from our ongoing Freedom of Information requests. It’s my holiday gift to all of you!

The 2020 blog about this can be found HERE.

Not surprising, the LAT is not getting any faster, and even more not surprising, the same insurers are still creating a lot of LAT disputes.

First, the insurers. Here are the top 5 insurers at the LAT (by Applications in 2021-22 Q2 and by my count):

  1. Aviva: 572
  2. Certas (Desjardins): 441
  3. Intact: 439
  4. TD: 258
  5. Economical: 213

Some of this is probably a matter of the “bigger you are, the more applications you’ll get” but, as noted previously, some more litigious insurers have a (much) higher percentage of LAT cases compared to their overall market share.
See previous blog on Market Share vs. LAT Applications & Decisions HERE.

Delay continues to be a massive issue at the LAT. Each step in the proceeding is taking longer and longer as the years go by, and the number of Applications (and insurer denials) continues to rise. OTLA members report that Case Conferences are being cancelled on short notice and then rescheduled to dates in the distant future.

Some quick “take aways” before the actual stats:

  • The average time between Application and Decision is now 589 days. This has steadily increased since the LAT took over AB disputes.
  • We are now at almost double the amount of time from Application to Decision from when the LAT started hearing AB disputes (323 days in 2017-2018 Q4 to 589 days in 2021-2022 Q4).
  • The average time between each litigation step (Application, Case Conference, Hearing) has increased over the last year.
  • Applications remain high, average about 4,000 per quarter over the last year. 

Here are the updated results:

Number of applications received by quarter

Various items relating to length of time: average length of time by quarter

MEETING WITH THE LAT

On a more positive note, OTLA’s John Karapita, Matt Caron, Board Member Jennifer Bezaire and myself, met with the LAT on December 2, 2021.

At this meeting, the LAT told OTLA about their ongoing efforts to hire more adjudicators, work to eliminate backlogs and work to potentially reform some LAT procedures to streamline the process.

OTLA will continue to engage with the LAT on an ongoing basis in the new year.

#insurance #LAT #stats
Written by

Duncan is a founding partner of White Macgillivray Lester LLP in Thunder Bay and Lecturer at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University, teaching Insurance Law. Duncan has served injury clients all across Northwestern Ontario, from the Manitoba border in the west, to Greenstone in the east and all the way up north to Hudson’s Bay. Duncan is involved in his community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Thunder Bay and Area from 2009 to Present (with 2010 to 2015 as President) and the Board of Directors of Thunder Bay Counselling Centre 2009 to 2015 (with 2011 to 2015 as Board Chair). Duncan is also involved in the legal community, sitting on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Trial Lawyers’ Association since 2015, Thunder Bay Law Association since 2012, and Co-Chairing the Thunder Bay Law Association’s Civil Litigation CLE programs.