Dagmara Mroczkowska

The applicant sought statutory accident benefits after being injured while loading a refrigerator onto a trailer attached to a parked vehicle.

The respondent denied the claim on the basis that the incident was not an 'accident' under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.

The Tribunal applied the purpose and causation tests, finding that while loading the trailer was an ordinary use of the vehicle, the direct cause of the injuries was the malfunction of the dolly holding the refrigerator.

The dolly's failure constituted an intervening act that broke the chain of causation.

The application was dismissed.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and sought accident benefits.

The insurer denied caregiver benefits based on the OCF-1 application and a medical certificate, arguing the claim was now statute-barred due to the passage of the two-year limitation period.

The applicant argued the denial was invalid because she had never submitted an OCF-10 election form to choose between caregiver and non-earner benefits.

The Arbitrator found that an election was necessary under section 36 of the Schedule and that the OCF-1 alone was insufficient to constitute an election.

Because no valid election was made, the insurer's denial was invalid, and the limitation period did not begin to run.

The applicant was granted the right to elect her preferred benefit without a time limit.