Financial Services Commission des Commission services financiers of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2012 ONFSCDRS 62
FSCO A09-002315
BETWEEN:
JOSEPH DENIS LUKACSI
Applicant
and
INTACT INSURANCE COMPANY
Insurer
REASONS FOR DISMISSAL
Before: Susan Sapin
Heard: Written submissions received from Robert G. Plate on behalf of Intact Insurance Company on March 5, 2012 No written submissions from Mr. Lukacsi
Issues:
The Applicant, Joseph Denis Lukacsi, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on September 23, 2007. He applied for statutory accident benefits from Intact Insurance Company (“Intact”), payable under the Schedule.1 Intact disputed Mr. Lukacsi’s entitlement to benefits. Mediation was unsuccessful and Mr. Lukacsi applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended, on September 9, 2009.
After many delays and postponements and lack of compliance with undertakings by Mr. Lukacsi, a hearing was finally held on October 9, 2011. Mr. Lukacsi arrived unrepresented and unprepared, without documents or witnesses to prove his case. Intact moved to dismiss the proceedings on the basis that Mr. Lukacsi’s failure to comply with undertakings or to pursue his claim with diligence was vexatious and amounted to an abuse of the Commission’s process. In a decision dated December 5, 2011 I declined to dismiss Mr. Lukacsi’s application for arbitration without a hearing on the merits and instead allowed him a final opportunity for such a hearing, provided he complied with certain terms. My Order was as follows:
The arbitration hearing will be scheduled for two days, no later than 120 days after the date of this decision;2
Within 30 days of this decision, Mr. Lukacsi will contact counsel for Intact to schedule a mutually convenient date for the arbitration proceeding, to take place within the time frame above, and advise the Commission of the date;
Mr. Lukacsi shall produce to Intact, 45 days prior to the commencement of the arbitration hearing, a list of the witnesses he intends to call and copies of all documents on which he intends to rely at the hearing;
The new hearing date will be peremptory to Mr. Lukacsi. He may represent himself, or be represented, but no further adjournment will be granted to obtain a legal representative or to obtain documents.
If Mr. Lukacsi succeeds in finding a legal representative, he will advise Intact and the Commission of the name and contact information for that person as soon as the representative is retained.
Any disputes arising between now and the hearing will be dealt with by the pre-hearing arbitrator, Arbitrator Feldman.
I specified that failure to comply with any one of the terms would result in dismissal of the case without a hearing under Rule 68 of the Dispute Resolution Practice Code, and that my decision was notice to Mr. Lukacsi, under Rule 68.2, of a potential dismissal of his case on the grounds cited above.
The time for Mr. Lukacsi to contact Intact to arrange a new hearing date as ordered expired on January 5, 2012.
In a letter to me dated January 11, 2012 Mr. Plate advised that he had not heard from Mr. Lukacsi. In a subsequent letter to me dated March 5, 2012, copied to Mr. Lukacsi, Mr. Plate advised that he had still not heard from Mr. Lukacsi and requested that the matter be dismissed pursuant to the direct language of my Order of December 5, 2011.
In the meantime, Mr. Lukacsi called the case administrator for this file on February 8 and 9, 10, 17, and 23, 2012 requesting hearing dates, despite the fact that he was long out of time and had not contacted Intact. On February 23, 2012, he stated he “had a valid reason.” He stated he would provide his reason in writing to the Commission the following day. He has never done so.
Result:
As Mr. Lukacsi has not complied with my order of December 5, 2011, his application for arbitration is dismissed.
EXPENSES:
Under the circumstances, I make no order as to expenses.
April 17, 2012
Susan Sapin Arbitrator
Date
Financial Services Commission des Commission services financiers of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2012 ONFSCDRS 62
FSCO A09-002315
BETWEEN:
JOSEPH DENIS LUKACSI
Applicant
and
INTACT INSURANCE COMPANY
Insurer
ARBITRATION ORDER
Under section 282 of the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended, it is ordered that:
- Mr. Lukacsi’s arbitration proceeding is dismissed.
April 17, 2012
Susan Sapin Arbitrator
Date
Footnotes
- The Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule — Accidents on or after November 1, 1996, Ontario Regulation 403/96, as amended.
- “this decision” being my decision of December 5, 2011.