Brown v. Allstate Insurance Co.

SIMONETT, Justice.

These two cases, which we hereby consolidate for the purposes of this appeal, concern the mandatory arbitration of claims for no-fault benefits under our No-Fault Act. The Act provides for mandatory arbitration “where the claim at the commencement of arbitration is in an amount of $5,000 or less.” Minn.Stat. § 65B.525, subd. 1 (1988). We hold that a claimant with a claim in excess of $5,000 at the time the arbitration petition is filed may waive the excess in order to qualify for arbitration.

These two cases illustrate the problem. In the first case Elizabeth Brown was…