It was the “cathartic, red ‘not helpful’ button” that was the first clue about how different the new way of arguing with the Insurance Corp. of B.C. is going to be.
That new era starts Monday. If it’s an average day, several hundred claims will roll in to ICBC. Disputes will arise on about five per cent of the cases. A new process will handle most of them in a radically different fashion.
The government is edging most lawyers out of the picture in order to save money. So the traditional model of settling disputed claims in court will be shut down for all but the most serious cases.
On officially designated minor claims, meaning about 80 per cent of them, disputes will be handled by the civil-resolution tribunal.
More accurately, they’ll be handled by the tribunal’s new website. A glimpse of that website, which is called the “solution explorer,” was provided Friday at a briefing. It sounds like a wondrous thing.
Instead of argumentative lawyers and gruff old judges, the new system will feature a “humanistic” layout that sounds like the most compassionate, understanding and intuitive thing you can imagine.
There was no talk at the briefing about it cross-examining you, or hiring private eyes to catch you at aerobics classes while you’re claiming crippling soft-tissue damage. It only wants to make sure your needs are met.
Instead of dressing up and going to court, you can sit in a coffee shop and plead your case on your phone — to a website that only wants to help you.
It checks itself every few months, by assessing feedback on whether the step-by-step process is simple enough to understand.
One of the feedback tools is a “not helpful” button on most pages. Those buttons are common on a lot of sites. But at a preview of the site on Friday, it was called the “cathartic, red ‘not helpful’ button.”
Releasing strong or repressed emotions has never been easier. If you get frustrated, don’t swear at the civil-resolution tribunal, or rage against the NDP and ICBC.
That upsets everyone else in the coffee shop. Just push the button. Push it as many times as you want.
The computer will learn to become even clearer over time. The whole site is written at a Grade 6 level, so it’s hard to imagine how much clearer it can be. But it will try.
If you get bogged down or confused by all the options available, the program leaves a “breadcrumb trail” so you can find your way back.
If gender identity is an issue, you can choose whatever pronoun you want used in communications.
The tribunal can handle 200 languages. It’s been operating for three years handling small claims and strata-housing disputes. Now it’s taking on a vast new jurisdiction.
It costs $125 to go the civil-resolution route. If the cost is an issue, you just click a button for a fee waiver, based on your income or whether you’re receiving government benefits.
At one point in the process, you can click to accept a settlement offer, or click elsewhere to make a counteroffer.
It will be like playing online poker, with an unfailingly courteous, understanding dealer.
Attorney General David Eby said people spend years in court arguing cases worth less than $50,000. And even if they win, legal fees eat up much of the proceeds.
The new online process will save a billion dollars a year, he said.
B.C.’s trial lawyers are gearing up to go to court, naturally, to contest the changes. But that will take years. So the new system will get a long run before there’s a final ruling on whether it’s constitutional.
The more immediate questions about efficiency will start getting determined Monday.
The solutions explorer will help determine all the case details, eligibility and available benefits, then it will nudge the parties toward a settlement. If that doesn’t work, it will make binding decisions enforceable as court orders.
The preview this week suggests it will be more efficient. But with the public sector’s track record on information technology, that comes with a big triple-underlined qualification:
If. It. Works.
