Brian M. Leck

The Appellant, an injured worker entitled to workers' compensation benefits, appealed an Arbitrator's decision denying him no-fault benefits under section 21 of the No-Fault Benefits Schedule.

The Appellant argued that the plain wording of section 21 entitled him to benefits either because he commenced a tort action or because he was not receiving workers' compensation payments.

The Director's Delegate upheld the Arbitrator's interpretation that section 21 requires a bona fide action for threshold-type injuries, and found the Arbitrator had jurisdiction to determine the action was not bona fide as it was commenced solely to qualify for no-fault benefits.

The appeal was dismissed, but the Appellant was awarded expenses due to the novelty and importance of the legal issues.

The Applicant sought weekly income benefits following a motor vehicle accident while driving an uninsured vehicle.

The arbitrator determined that the Toronto Transit Commission, as the owner of the other vehicle involved, was the proper insurer.

However, the arbitrator dismissed the claim for benefits, finding that the Applicant had never been employed as claimed and that the claim was entirely fraudulent.

The arbitrator noted the inability to award costs against a fraudulent applicant under the existing legislation.