The applicant insurer appealed an arbitration award determining priority for Statutory Accident Benefits following a motor vehicle accident involving a catastrophically injured child.
The child's parents were separated, and the insurers disputed whether the child was principally dependent on her mother or father at the time of the accident.
The arbitrator found the child was principally dependent on her mother, utilizing a 12-month time frame for the dependency analysis rather than the 5.5-week period immediately preceding the accident when the child briefly resided with her father.
The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the appeal, finding no extricable error of law or palpable and overriding error in the arbitrator's determination of the appropriate time frame or assessment of care dependency.
