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By contrast in B.C., 51 per cent of injury claimants hire a lawyer to extract a settlement from B.C.’s public insurer, according to ICBC board chair Joy MacPhail.

“A quarter of these claims already have a lawyer involved before they are reported to ICBC,” she said.

The average payout for minor injuries in B.C. has risen from $8,220 in 2000 to $30,038 in 2016, an almost fourfold increase, according to an analysis by Ernst and Young delivered to the provincial government last year.

Pain and suffering claims due to minor injury are up to $16,500, from about $5,000, over the same period, said the report, which employs figures supplied by ICBC.

ICBC says total annual cost of settling minor injury claims has ballooned to almost $1 billion, up from less than $300 million in the early 2000s. Total injury claims are now $3 billion a year.

A cap of $7,000 to $9,000 on pain and suffering settlements could save the system $770 million, the report says.

ICBC is facing a $1.3-billion shortfall this fiscal year, according to Attorney-General David Eby, who has promised a suite of changes to address the corporation’s financial crisis.

Photo by University of Calgary / PNG

“Prior to the cap, the average cost of pain and suffering claims for minor injuries (in Alberta) was climbing to $15,000, $20,000 and $25,000 for each claim, which given the frequency of those types of claims was really adding to the cost of premiums,” said Kleffner.

Rather than paying people lump sums, Alberta channelled new resources into treatment for injury victims and compensation for lost income.