Woman feeling run over by MPI decision after her vehicle side-swiped in traffic

A Winnipeg woman is challenging Manitoba Public Insurance’s policies after her husband was declared 50 per cent at fault for a collision she says the Crown corporation never investigated.

Cassie Fotheringham said she, her husband and two daughters were travelling eastbound on Grant Avenue Feb. 20 when their vehicle was side-swiped by one driven by another motorist.

She expected the process to be fairly cut and dried; the vehicle belongs to her, so she filed a claim and waited to hear from MPI.

The couple got “radio silence” until three weeks later when a letter from MPI arrived, informing them the fault was to be split 50-50 and both parties were to pay their full $500 deductible and would be docked five points from their driver safety rating.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to give any evidence, that’s the part that’s very frustrating about all of it,” Fotheringham told the Free Press Tuesday.

“It’s like, once they got the other side of the story — which is the wrong side — but once they got the other person’s claim… there was nothing, there was no followup, there was no further investigation.”

In the weeks since, Fotheringham has scrambled to gather any evidence she can, but because MPI never requested any witness statements or security footage earlier, she has been unsuccessful.

She reached out to the city, hoping to obtain security footage of the intersection, but was told footage is kept only for a week. She also struck out with Winnipeg Transit.

“At this point, I’ve more or less given up,” she said.

She took to social media to see if anyone had witnessed the accident. She got multiple responses, not from witnesses, but from people who said they had the same experiences with MPI in which they were unfairly deemed partially at fault for collisions.

One said he had been declared 50 per cent responsible for a collision in which his parked vehicle was hit.

“It’s been a long drawn-out process, and the way that they operate, it just sets you up for failure,” Fotheringham said. “Now, any time I’m on the road in the future, I need to basically be a private investigator.”

MPI did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday, but the insurer’s website states it may assess fault at 50-50 “because both drivers contributed equally to the collision or conflicting evidence won’t allow us to say conclusively who was at fault.”

Drivers can appeal MPI’s findings, and for $50, an independent adjudicator can review a case, in certain circumstances. Drivers can also go to small claims court to appeal a decision, at the cost of $75-$100.

Fotheringham said she plans to appeal, but the complete lack of followup from MPI thus far has not given her reason to be optimistic about the process.

She’s originally from Ontario, where motorists purchase coverage from private insurers. A more competitive model could force MPI to act quicker and more transparently, she suggested.

“I used to think the public (model) was better until things like this started happening,” she said.

“They’re not even trying to investigate on your behalf, because there’s no private insurance companies fighting for you… that’s probably why they find everyone 50-50 (at fault).”

Manitobans have few options when it comes to vehicle insurance: all basic coverage is through MPI, but extended policy options that can lower deductibles and improve coverage are provided by both MPI and private insurance companies.

And while private insurance can provide extras MPI does not offer, the Crown corporation still has a very strong share in the extension market, Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba chief executive officer Grant Wainikka said.

“I think it’s important for consumers to have options, I do believe that, beyond the basic Autopac product,” he said. “Manitobans, generally, tell us that they do want to see these options or at least to have them available.”

Byron Williams, a lawyer who represents the Consumer Association of Canada’s Manitoba branch at MPI rate-setting hearings, said despite several private insurance options existing in Manitoba, MPI has more than 95 per cent of the business in insurance add-ons.

“You can interpret that in one of two ways. Either people are really happy with MPI or, alternatively, that the cards are stacked in favour of MPI, even when there are competitive service offerings,” he said.

Transparency should be a pillar of any corporation with the monopoly over a customer base that MPI has, he said.

“The duty of a monopoly, when you have captive customers, you have to go that extra mile and customers have to see you go that extra mile,” he said. “You have to justify that the reasons that you got that monopoly are still valid today.”

The Crown corporation has been the sole provider of auto insurance in Manitoba since 1971.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca