Joseph Campisi Jr.

The applicant sought to recover expenses following an arbitration decision that awarded her partial housekeeping benefits.

The insurer also sought its expenses.

The arbitrator reviewed the amended Expense Regulation, which removed the broad discretion to consider access to the dispute resolution system and mandated a results-based approach.

Finding that both parties enjoyed some measure of success but neither achieved their ultimate objective, the arbitrator concluded that each party should bear its own expenses.

The applicant's pre-hearing offer to settle was disregarded because subsequent settlements and withdrawals of other claims vitiated the original offer.

The applicant was injured in a rear-end motor vehicle accident and sought housekeeping and home maintenance benefits beyond the insurer's termination date of June 2, 2003.

The arbitrator found that the medical evidence, including the insurer's own multi-disciplinary assessment, supported that the accident materially contributed to a chronic pain condition limiting her ability to perform housekeeping.

However, the arbitrator drew an adverse inference from the applicant's failure to provide evidence regarding the outcome of a recommended 10-week psychotherapy treatment plan, concluding her entitlement ended on September 15, 2003.

Benefits were awarded at a rate of $30 per week based on in-home assessments, rather than the maximum $100 per week claimed.