Angela James

The applicant sought expenses following his complete success in defending against the insurer's application to vary or revoke an arbitration order regarding income replacement benefits.

The arbitrator found the applicant was entitled to expenses based on his degree of success.

The arbitrator allowed the claimed counsel fee of $150 per hour for 79.7 hours, noting the duplicated preparation time due to an adjournment requested by the insurer and the late narrowing of issues.

However, the arbitrator disallowed the cost of three medical reports obtained before the insurer filed its application, finding they were not incurred in furtherance of the application.

Total expenses of $24,314.82 were awarded to the applicant.

The insurer sought an assessment of its expenses and an order specifying the interest rate and start date for a repayment order of $33,997.72 made in a previous arbitration decision.

The arbitrator found that the insurer was not entitled to an assessment of its expenses because it failed to follow the rules in the Dispute Resolution Practice Code, specifically by waiting 19 months to enforce the order and failing to serve the applicant with an itemized bill of costs.

The arbitrator declined to exercise discretion to excuse the delay.

Regarding interest, the arbitrator ordered the applicant to pay interest on the $33,997.72 repayment amount at the bank rate of 4.75% per annum from October 4, 1999, as the applicant had notice of the overpayment and failed to repay it in a timely manner.

State Farm appealed an arbitrator's refusal to amend a previous order to specify the interest rate, start date, and expenses payable by the respondent following a finding of wilful misrepresentation.

The Director's Delegate found that the arbitrator erred in law by failing to issue an enforceable order regarding interest as required by section 17(2) of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.

The Delegate also found the arbitrator breached the duty of procedural fairness by failing to provide written reasons for refusing to consider the assessment of expenses.

The matter was remitted to the arbitrator to determine the interest details and the entitlement to an assessment of expenses.

The insurer sought to add a repayment issue to the arbitration.

The applicant's representative refused to consent, claiming the issue was unmeritorious and statute-barred, but provided no evidence or detailed submissions.

The arbitrator found that the insurer's claim was not plainly and obviously devoid of merit and that adding the issue would avoid a multiplicity of proceedings.

The arbitrator allowed the insurer to amend its response to include the repayment issue and ordered the applicant to pay $250 in expenses due to the representative's contumacious refusal to consent.

The applicant sought payment of $763.41 for an in-home assessment conducted following a motor vehicle accident.

The insurer refused to pay because the assessment was conducted before the applicant requested or obtained the insurer's approval, contrary to section 24(1.1) of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.

The arbitrator dismissed the application, finding that the clear language of section 24(1.1) provides a complete defence for the insurer when an expense is incurred prior to obtaining approval.