Proposed insurance plan will take away rights, says lawyer
By Lethbridge Herald on March 27, 2025.
Emergency personnel work at the scene of a two car collision at the intersection of 6 Avenue and 13 Street South. Herald file photo by Ian MartensAlejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com
When it comes to auto insurance, many Albertans are under the impression that the new proposed legislation will bring positive changes to the current model, but what has been called a “care-first” approach is being referred to as a “no-fault scheme” by personal injury lawyers.
Calgary injury lawyer Joel McLeish, says that Albertans want affordable insurance, but he doesn’t believe that the “no-fault scheme” that the government is proposing is going to be a good answer, especially given that it takes away rights from Albertans
He says the messaging that is coming out from the provincial government is misleading, because while Albertans are being told that they will receive benefits and their premiums will be reduced, that might not be the case.
“If you look at what happened in B.C., their rates didn’t go down, at best they stayed levelled and that is not what (the UCP) are proposing,” says McLeish. “They are saying to the average Albertan that they are going to save money.”
While that might be the case, he says the message is meant to sell the average Albertan on the concept. But they are not getting the full picture, as they are not being told that they will be losing some of their rights in the process.
“When these rules and legislations come in, it can supersede the current tort law and people are going to lose their right of access to justice,” says McLeish.
He says the key concern is the fact that the government is trying to take away Albertans right to access the courts to gain fair compensation.
“I think is this a government over-reach for them to say that they have a solution to lowering premiums by taking away your right to sue in tort,” says McLeish.
He adds reforms are probably needed, but there are ways to address the issue of Alberta’s high premiums without taking away Albertans’ rights.
“When we look at the no-fault system that was introduced in B.C. back in 2021, there are lots of cases where the new system is not adequate,” says McLeish.
For example, McLeish explains postulates a young doctor doing their residency or just about to graduate from medical school falls victim of a vehicle collision and are not at fault. Their injuries affect their ability to work and earn a living. Under a no-fault scheme that is being used in B.C. at the moment, it would look at what their past income was and compensate them based on that and not the potential income they would have received as a doctor.
“Now in cases under the new model, when the driver that is at fault doesn’t get a criminal conviction, the victim will no longer be able to bring that claim in tort, and will not be able to receive fair compensation,” says McLeish.
He says the average Albertan who gets injured in an accident, who does not fit the arbitrary criteria that the new legislation is proposing, will no longer have the right to sue. That in turn takes away the ability to be compensated based on their individual circumstances.
McLeish adds that under the new model, everyone is going to be looked at through the same lens and compensated based on “one size fits most” concept. That criteria that will not take into account every individual’s needs.
“We need to have empathy for those people because the average person doesn’t get in an accident, but for the Albertans that do, I think it’s important for them to know how their rights are being affected,” says McLeish.
In terms of who ultimately will benefit from the new legislation, McLeish says that it will be the insurance companies as they will no longer have to be paying compensation to those injured in accidents.
“I think there is a lot of behind-the-scenes push from the insurance companies, because ultimately there is a profit motive to deny your claim. They will send you to a doctor of their choosing who will claim that you no longer need any coverage and ultimately cut you off.”
He says at that point, the injured Albertan will need to go through a tribunal to get back the benefits and get the help they need.
“This inflexible system simply won’t serve the best interests of Albertans, especially for those with serious injuries who will be faced with no recourse when insurance companies use their power imbalance and their industry-favourite doctors to start cutting off treatments,” says McLeish. “Do we really want to remove the lawyers, who try, and still struggle currently, to get the insurance to live up to their promises? In my humble opinion, no.”
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Complaining about the NDP policy of one size fits all is ripe. Only ones here to be severely affected are the lawyers it would appear.
certainly lawyers that live off the misery of accident victims will be affected. however, we are all potentially to be adversely affected if this goes through. i am unsure why that is not a part of your acknowledgement. are you unable to see that this move is all about protecting the insurer from paying up as per insurance agreements, while leaving the victims without? rates will hardly come down, and if they do fall a relative few cents, it will hardly make up for what one will lose in protective coverage due to a life altering accident caused by another.
this is the kind of thing we seem to be at odds with. you default to the corporate entity, the govt entity and only a particular govt, and slam pretty much everything that is about compassion and fairness. thus, my remark in another thread where i quip that you must have been punted from kindergarten to grade one, rather than having demonstrated what kindergarten is most about: fairness, sharing, kindness, compassion. that remark has nothing to do with your intellectual capacity, as i know you are intelligent…the remark is just to question where on earth your heart is at.
There is no such thing as ‘no fault insurance’.Somebody is always at fault.
If you are resposible for an accidenr your rates should go up..
Nothing the UCP has introduced or amended has saved the taxpayers a dollar or improved what was in place. Quite the contrary.
Let me see if I have a basic understanding of our Alberta Insurance dilemma here.
1) Albertans are feeling the financial pinch of ever increasing insurance rates due to spiraling costs from multiple factors and want lower insurance rates.
2) The lawyer from this article is concerned that Albertans cannot “sue” whoever they want, and for as much as they want under the new plan.
Exactly how does one lower insurance premiums while simultaneously giving people virtually unrestricted rights to hire a lawyer and sue for whatever damages they deem fair and necessary?
This sounds like if we would like BOTH #1 and #2 to be true, the taxpayer is about to get stuck with another bill when the government has to subsidize either the insurance lobby, or the Lawyer lobby in order to give taxpayers the “false impression” that their insurance premiums somehow got cheaper.
I am all for compassion and caring, but the the math has to add up eventually.