M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E |
|
|
To / Destinataire |
Mayor and Members of CouncilToT
|
File/N° de
fichier: |
|
From / Expéditeur |
M. Rick O’Connor, City Clerk and SolicitorFrom |
|
|
Subject / Objet |
Further information on Claims paid – Parks Recreation and Cultural Services and Transit ServicesSubject |
Date: May 11, 2010 |
This memo is intended to respond to the direction given to staff by the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee on May 4, 2010 in considering Report ACS2010-CMR-LEG-0005 Claim Settlements Finalized for the Period January 1, 2010 to March 31, 2010 from the City Clerk and Solicitor Department. The above noted Report will be considered by Council tomorrow (Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee Report 54, Item 1).
Committee asked staff to provide information on claims paid out on behalf of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services for bodily harm (i.e. head injuries) and an analysis and comparison of the number of claims and costs from 2009. Committee also requested more detailed information on personal injury claims pertaining to Transit Services for the same time period.
Due to privacy restrictions, personal descriptors about a claimant (name, age, address, etc.) cannot be provided but it is permissible to outline the general nature of the injury and the general factual circumstances that gave rise to the claim.
Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services
In the first quarter of 2010, one bodily/personal injury claim in the
amount of $183.75 was settled and paid out on behalf of Parks, Recreation &
Cultural Services which was for a minor injury and not a head injury. This amount is significantly lower than the
three bodily/personal injury claims concluded in 2009 which payments averaged out
at $40,876.70 per each of the three claims settled or a total of $122,630.12 as
shown in Document 3 of the Report. None of the three claims paid in 2009 was for
a head injury. Each of the three claims
arose from orthopaedic injuries suffered by the claimant while engaged in an
activity at a City recreational facility or while participating in a City
supervised recreation program.
Transit Services
In the first quarter of 2010, 11 bodily/personal injury claims were
settled and paid out on behalf of Transit Services at an average amount of
$11,413.32 per claim. The total amount
paid out during the first quarter of 2010 was $125,546.53 as shown in Document
1 of the Report. These claims arose from
adult passengers who were injured while boarding, exiting or travelling on City
buses. Due to the no-fault automobile
insurance legislation in effect in Ontario, the City is obligated to pay
accident benefits to any injured bus passenger where the passenger does not
have his or her own policy of automobile insurance to claim against in such a
situation.
In 2009, 91 claims against Transit Services for bodily/personal injury
were settled and paid out for an average amount each of $18,455.38. As 91 bodily/personal injury claims were
concluded in 2009, resulting in an average of 22.5 claims concluded per quarter,
the 11 claims concluded in the first quarter of 2010 is approximately half of
the amount of claims for the same period in 2009.
Transit Services holds monthly Accident Review Committee meetings for
accidents arising from the operations of OC Transpo and Para Transpo. Information on the accidents is provided by
the City Clerk and Solicitor Department through the RiskMaster software
program.
M. Rick O’Connor, CMO
City Clerk and Solicitor
