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BEYIEE <br />3490 Lexington Avenue North <br />St. Paul, MN 55126-8044 <br />League of Minnesota Cities (612)490.5600 <br />February 24, 1994 <br />To: LMCIT Member Cities and Agents <br />From: LMCIT Board of Trustees <br />Re: Deletion of Medical Payments Coverage <br />At the request of several member cities, the LMCIT Board of <br />Trustees has decided to give Trust members the option of <br />deleting "COVERAGE B. MEDICAL AND RELATED PAYMENTS" from the <br />Comprehensive Municipal Property and Casualty Coverage document. <br />"COVERAGE B" provides a limited form of "no fault" medical <br />payments protection to individuals who have sustained bodily <br />injury arising out of a condition on city property. The <br />coverage is limited to $1,000 of medical expenses and has <br />several conditions and exclusions associated with it. <br />The Board chose to make the coverage optional because some <br />cities had expressed a belief that there was little <br />justification for making a payment to an injured person, <br />irrespective of the fault. This memo will attempt to address <br />some of the questions that will likely come up when city <br />officials are considering whether to delete medical payments <br />coverage. <br />I. What is the rationale for medical payments coverage? <br />Medical payments coverage pays for injuries sustained by members <br />of the public while on city property, without regard to legal <br />liability or fault. If, for example, a citizen slips and <br />falls in city hall, LMCIT will pay for reasonable medical <br />expenses incurred, up to $1,000, regardless of whether or not <br />the city was negligent. The rationale for this no fault <br />coverage approach is that payment of medical expenses without <br />regard to liability will help reduce both the frequency and <br />severity of bodily injury lawsuits, because in general, injured <br />parties may be less inclined to sue if they receive conciliatory <br />treatment at the time of the accident. Some also see the <br />coverage as a form of goodwill extended to those who suffer <br />injury while on city property. <br />II. Has the medical payments coverage actually had an effect <br />on reducing lawsuits? <br />It is difficult to say whether the medical payments coverage <br />really has its intended deterrent effect of discouraging <br />lawsuits. There is not a lot of hard and fast data to either <br />support or oppose the proposition. <br />Page <br />