Gary Mazin

Following a jury trial arising from a motor vehicle accident, the plaintiff obtained a damages award after the jury found the defendant negligent.

The plaintiff sought substantial indemnity costs of approximately $547,000 or partial indemnity costs of approximately $417,000, while the defendant argued costs should be limited to $100,000 in fees and $50,000 in disbursements.

Applying Rule 57.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and the guidance from Boucher v. Public Accountants Council for the Province of Ontario, the court considered factors including the importance of the claim, the complexity of the medical evidence, the conduct of the parties at trial, and the proportionality of costs to the damages recovered.

The court concluded that substantial indemnity costs were not justified but that significant partial indemnity costs were appropriate given the complexity of the evidence and trial process.

The applicant sought statutory accident benefits, including non-earner, attendant care, and housekeeping benefits, following a motor vehicle accident.

The insurer denied the claims, arguing the applicant's impairments pre-dated the accident and that she misrepresented her medical history.

The arbitrator dismissed the application, finding the applicant and her husband lacked credibility.

The evidence demonstrated the applicant had a significant pre-existing history of chronic pain and degenerative arthritis for which she was already receiving a disability pension, and she failed to disclose this history to post-accident assessors.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and claimed attendant care, housekeeping, and caregiver benefits from her insurer under a transitional policy.

The central legal issue was whether the new 'incurred' definition in the 2010 Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, which requires non-professional service providers to demonstrate an economic loss, applied to her claims.

The arbitrator held that the applicant's rights vested on the date of the accident, meaning the 2010 Schedule's definition of 'incurred' applied.

Because the applicant's family members could not demonstrate a quantifiable economic loss, the claims for attendant care and caregiver benefits were denied.

However, the applicant was awarded partial housekeeping benefits for services provided by professional cleaners during the period she was substantially disabled from performing those tasks.

The Insurer sought expenses following its complete success in an arbitration proceeding where the Applicant's claims were dismissed.

The Applicant objected to the Insurer's disclosure of settlement negotiations regarding the expense issue.

The Arbitrator found the disclosure inappropriate but did not penalize the Insurer by denying expenses entirely.

Applying the Expense Regulation, the Arbitrator reduced the claimed fees and disbursements due to lack of supporting documentation and fixed the Insurer's expenses at $12,000.00.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and applied for attendant care and housekeeping benefits.

The insurer refused to pay and requested that the applicant attend an insurer's examination.

The applicant failed to attend, and the insurer raised a preliminary issue arguing that she was prohibited from proceeding to arbitration under s. 55(2) of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.

The arbitrator found that the insurer's notices of examination failed to comply with the strict requirements of s. 44(5) of the Schedule, as they omitted necessary details such as the regulated health profession of the assessor and the exact location of the examination.

Consequently, the applicant was not prohibited from proceeding to arbitration.

Following a decision on statutory accident benefits where the applicants were partially successful, the applicants sought their expenses of the arbitration.

The insurer argued that the parties should bear their own costs.

The arbitrator found that the applicants were entitled to their expenses as they achieved partial success.

After assessing the bill of costs, including reductions for unsupported time claims and excessive supervision hours, the arbitrator ordered the insurer to pay the applicants $9,002.60 plus GST for their arbitration expenses.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and applied for statutory accident benefits.

The insurer denied two treatment plans and raised a preliminary issue regarding the applicant's failure to attend an insurer's examination.

The insurer later sought to withdraw the preliminary issue after learning the applicant had not received notice of the examination.

The applicant requested $500 in costs as a condition of the withdrawal.

The arbitrator found the insurer's initial request for a preliminary issue was not improper or vexatious, and permitted the insurer to withdraw the issue without terms.

Following an appeal regarding statutory accident benefits, both parties sought their legal expenses for the appeal proceedings.

State Farm argued it was successful on all issues and had made a favourable offer to settle.

The Director's Delegate found that both parties had sought and obtained an order overturning the Arbitrator's original expense order, and both had sought additional relief.

Because both parties sought to overturn an identical aspect of the arbitration decision and both sought a broadened interpretation of jurisdiction, the Delegate ordered that each party bear their own legal expenses for the appeal.

Following the dismissal of the applicant's claim for statutory accident benefits, the insurer sought its expenses of the arbitration against both the applicant and his solicitor personally.

The arbitrator ordered the applicant to pay $7,000 in expenses to the insurer, finding the insurer was completely successful and the applicant lacked credibility.

The arbitrator dismissed the insurer's claim for expenses against the solicitor personally and ordered the insurer to pay $1,000 in expenses to the solicitor for having to defend against the unreasonable claim.

The appellant estate appealed an arbitrator's decision dismissing its claim for statutory accident benefits and ordering its counsel to personally pay the insurer's legal expenses of $4,256.37.

The arbitrator found that the estate had no legal standing to claim death or funeral benefits, which are personal to the dependant, and that counsel failed to properly amend the application despite being given time to do so.

On appeal, the Director's Delegate confirmed the arbitrator's decision, finding no error in the refusal to amend the title of proceedings without a proper motion, and upholding the costs award against counsel for advancing a claim with no chance of success.

The appellant appealed an arbitrator's decision restricting his income replacement benefits and denying housekeeping benefits following a motor vehicle accident.

The respondent cross-appealed the arbitrator's decision that each party bear their own arbitration expenses.

The Director's Delegate dismissed the appellant's appeal regarding benefits, finding the arbitrator made no error of law in assessing credibility and weighing medical evidence.

However, the Delegate allowed the cross-appeal regarding expenses, holding that procedural fairness requires an arbitrator to provide written reasons for an expense award.

The expense issue was remitted to the arbitrator.

The arbitrator determined the entitlement and quantum of expenses following an arbitration decision regarding statutory accident benefits.

The Insurer achieved a greater degree of success, having successfully defended against three of four benefit claims and a claim for a special award.

The arbitrator considered written offers to settle, noting the Insurer's offer was closer to the final result than the Applicant's offer.

The arbitrator also reviewed the conduct of the Applicant's counsel but found it did not unreasonably prolong the hearing.

The Insurer was awarded 60% of its recoverable expenses, assessed at $6,552.19, after reductions for unnecessary second counsel and unrecoverable disbursements such as court reporting and transcript fees.

The appellant appealed a preliminary order of an arbitrator regarding the admissibility of a hearing transcript for the purpose of determining whether the appellant's counsel should be personally liable for legal expenses.

The Director's Delegate rejected the appeal, finding that it was from a preliminary or interim expense order that did not finally decide the issues in dispute, and that the appeal was moot pending the arbitrator's final expense decision.

The applicant sought to exclude the insurer from participating in the arbitration because it filed its response 12 days late.

The insurer brought a motion to extend the time to file its response under Rule 81 of the Dispute Resolution Practice Code.

The arbitrator found the delay was unintentional, the insurer had a potential defence on the merits, and the applicant suffered no prejudice.

The arbitrator extended the time for the insurer to file its response nunc pro tunc.

The applicant was awarded her expenses for the preliminary issue hearing in the amount of $532.44 plus GST.

The Appellant appealed an arbitration decision dismissing its claim for death and funeral benefits and awarding costs against its representative.

On a preliminary motion, the Director's Delegate granted the Appellant leave to expand its Notice of Appeal but denied requests to introduce fresh evidence, including several affidavits.

The Delegate also denied requests to remove counsel for both parties so they could testify as witnesses, and determined the contents of the appeal record.

The Respondent was ordered to confirm or produce a will referenced in earlier proceedings.

The solicitor for the deceased insured commenced an arbitration for accident benefits (death and funeral benefits) in the name of the deceased's estate.

The insurer brought a motion to dismiss the arbitration on the basis that the estate had no legal standing to claim such benefits, which are payable only to dependants personally.

The arbitrator dismissed the arbitration as a nullity and a frivolous and vexatious proceeding.

Finding that the solicitor commenced the proceeding on behalf of a non-existent principal and advanced a claim with no possibility of success, the arbitrator ordered the solicitor to personally pay the insurer's legal expenses pursuant to section 282(11.2) of the Insurance Act.

Following an arbitration decision where the applicant was partially successful in claiming statutory accident benefits, both parties sought their expenses.

The arbitrator found that the applicant's success was significant to her, and denying expenses would undermine the consumer protection purpose of the Insurance Act.

The applicant was awarded her expenses at the Legal Aid rate, totaling $6,092.02 for the arbitration and $500.00 for the expense hearing.

The insurer's claim for expenses was dismissed.

The insurer brought a motion to compel the applicant to comply with undertakings given at a pre-hearing and to produce requested documents.

The arbitrator found that the applicant's counsel failed to comply with specific undertakings and failed to make best efforts to respond to production requests.

The arbitrator ordered compliance and production of most requested documents.

The arbitrator declined to suspend interest on overdue benefits, finding no statutory authority to do so.

Due to the unreasonable delay and default by the applicant's counsel, the arbitrator ordered the counsel to personally pay the insurer's expenses of the motion, fixed at $350.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and sought statutory accident benefits, including income replacement, medical, and housekeeping benefits, which the insurer denied.

The arbitrator found that the applicant suffered from accident-related depression that substantially disabled her from performing the essential tasks of her employment and housekeeping for a limited period.

The applicant was awarded income replacement and housekeeping benefits for the period from March to June 2005, along with interest.

Claims for ongoing income replacement, further medical benefits, examination expenses, and a special award were dismissed.