Luciana Zazzara

The applicant sought a determination that he sustained a catastrophic impairment following a motor vehicle accident, relying on Criteria 7 and 8 of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.

The Licence Appeal Tribunal dismissed the application, finding the applicant did not meet the 55% whole-person impairment threshold under Criterion 7 or demonstrate three marked impairments under Criterion 8.

The Tribunal gave no weight to the reports of the applicant's medical experts who failed to attend the hearing for cross-examination, and preferred the evidence of the respondent's assessors, which showed only mild physical and psychological impairments.

The applicant sought a determination that he sustained a catastrophic impairment as a result of a motor vehicle accident under Criteria 7 and 8 of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.

The Tribunal weighed competing multidisciplinary expert reports.

The Tribunal gave no weight to the applicant's orthopaedic and psychiatric experts because they failed to attend the hearing for cross-examination, and found the applicant's occupational therapist's evidence unreliable due to inconsistencies with observed function.

Preferring the respondent's experts, the Tribunal found the applicant sustained a 5% physical WPI and 5% psychological WPI, failing to meet the 55% threshold under Criterion 7, and sustained only mild impairments in the spheres of functioning under Criterion 8.

The application was dismissed.

The appellant appealed an arbitrator's decision regarding arbitration expenses and interest on retroactive attendant care and housekeeping benefits.

The Director's Delegate dismissed the appeal, finding that the arbitrator correctly concluded that solicitor/client costs are not prescribed expenses under the Insurance Act and reasonably exercised his discretion in reducing the claimed hours.

The Delegate also upheld the arbitrator's finding that, pursuant to Grigoroff, interest on attendant care benefits only begins to run 10 business days after the insurer receives a Form 1 assessment, not from the date the insurer is merely aware of the need.