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Appeals Process

Appeals

Appeals from decisions of the Life, General and Insurance Adjusters Councils (collectively the "Councils") are governed by the provisions of the Insurance Act and the Insurance Councils Regulation (the "Regulation").

The right of appeal is established by section 482 of the Insurance Act.

Section 16 of the Regulation governs the Notice of Appeal and reads as follows:

16(1) A person who is adversely affected by a decision of a council may appeal the decision by submitting a notice of appeal to the Superintendent within 30 days after the council has mailed the written notice of the decision to the person.

(2) The notice of appeal must contain the following:

(a) a copy of the written notice of the decision being appealed;

(b) a description of the relief requested by the appellant;

(c) the signature of the appellant or the appellant's lawyer;

(d) an address for service in Alberta for the appellant;

(e) an appeal fee of $200 payable to the Provincial Treasurer.

(3) The Superintendent must notify the Minister and provide a copy of the notice of appeal to the council whose decision is being appealed when a notice of appeal has been submitted.

(4) If the appeal involves a suspension or revocation of a certificate of authority or a levy of a penalty, the council's decision is suspended until after the disposition of the appeal by a panel of the Appeal Board.

Following receipt of the Appeal the Superintendent must, in accordance with s. 17 of the Regulation, select members of the Appeal Board to form the panel to hear the appeal. The Appeal Board is made up of elected insurance agents and adjusters in addition to a number of publicly appointed members. Each panel is made up of two elected members and one publicly appointed member that acts as the Chairperson of the panel.

Subject to any adjournment requests the Appeal Panel must fix a date for the hearing of the Appeal and this date cannot be more than 30 days after the last panel member is appointed.

While the Appeal Panel has the discretion to conduct hearings in the manner that they see fit, appeal hearings are normally in-person hearings during which oral evidence is given under oath before a court reporter. Following the hearing of an appeal the Appeal Panel is obligated to provide the parties with a written decision.

If you are interested in the conduct of appeal hearings further requirements can be found in sections 13 - 25 of the Regulation. It can be accessed on the Alberta Queen's Printer website at: www.qp.gov.ab.ca

The Regulation provides one further avenue of appeal to the Court of Queen's Bench. The procedure in and around this appeal is discussed in sections 26 - 28 of the Regulation.