Appeal of legal expenses award dismissed due to lack of joint request for bifurcation.
The appellant appealed an arbitrator's decision awarding him $6,628.75 in legal expenses following a settlement of his statutory accident benefits claim.
The appellant argued the arbitrator erred by not bifurcating the expense hearing to separately determine expenses incurred preparing for the hearing itself, and alleged a reasonable apprehension of bias.
The Director's Delegate dismissed the appeal, finding no evidence that the parties jointly requested a bifurcated expense hearing as required by the Dispute Resolution Practice Code, and no evidence that the arbitrator had closed her mind or prejudged the issues.
Alnoor Jadavji v. Security National Insurance Co./Monnex Insurance Mgmt. Inc., 2009 ONFSCDRS 59