Containing The Spread Of Fire(Wall)

Implementation of internal firewalls between accident benefits and bodily injury departments has been a struggle for automobile insurers since the publication of the Insurance Bureau of Canada's Bulletin 184, called "Internal Transfer of Information from Accident Benefits Adjuster to Tort Adjuster"¹. The type of information that a firewall protects and the direction in which it blocks the flow of information is not always clear. Caution and privacy concerns have at times hindered vital communications between different departments of an insurance company, particularly when dealing with positive results of fraud investigations.

Arbitrator Alves addressed some of these concerns in the recent Financial Services Commission of Ontario decision in Al-Taee and West Elgin Mutual Insurance Company². She was asked to considered whether a firewall restricts the transmission of information both to and from the accident benefits file, and whether the claimant can have an