Mithulan Panchalingam v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 2013 ONFSCDRS 131

Financial Services Commission des

Commission services financiers

of Ontario de l’Ontario

Neutral Citation: 2013 ONFSCDRS 131

FSCO A12-005310

BETWEEN:

MITHULAN PANCHALINGAM

Applicant

and

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE

INSURANCE COMPANY

Insurer

REASONS FOR DECISION

Before: Richard Feldman

Heard: October 4, 2013, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto

Appearances: No one appearing for Mr. Panchalingam

Bita Rajaee appearing for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Issues:

The Applicant, Mithulan Panchalingam, claims to have been injured in a motor vehicle accident on June 13, 2010. He applied for statutory accident benefits from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”), payable under the Schedule.¹ Issues arose concerning the Applicant’s entitlement to certain accident benefits. The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation and, on September 7, 2012, Mr. Panchalingam applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”) under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended.

A pre-hearing conference was scheduled to take place on May 15, 2013. At that time, the Applicant was represented by Mike Ferrante, licensed paralegal. The Applicant failed to communicate with Mr. Ferrante and failed to attend the pre-hearing conference on May 15, 2013. Mr. Ferrante requested that he be permitted to remove himself from the record as the Applicant’s representative and this request was granted.

A hearing was then scheduled for October 4, 2013. The Applicant was advised by me, in a letter dated May 15, 2013, that if he failed to attend before me on October 4, 2013, the hearing might proceed in his absence and that, without witnesses or documents to support his case, this application would likely be dismissed, possibly with expenses payable to State Farm. My letter and a formal Notice of Hearing were mailed to the Applicant at his last known address. Neither document was returned to FSCO.

On October 4, 2013, Jeff Kope from State Farm appeared before me and Ms. Bita Rajaee appeared as counsel for State Farm. The Applicant again failed to attend before me. He also did not send someone to appear on his behalf.

The issues in this hearing are:

Should this application be dismissed?
Should the Applicant pay the Insurer’s expenses?

Result:

This application is dismissed.
The Applicant shall pay to the Insurer its expenses of this proceeding, fixed in the amount of $750.00.

EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:

The Applicant failed to attend both a pre-hearing conference and the hearing. He has failed to communicate with his (former) counsel or with FSCO. Thus, there is no evidence before me to support the Applicant’s claim and no indication that the Applicant still wishes to pursue this claim. In the circumstances, this application is dismissed.

EXPENSES:

The Insurer has requested its expenses related to this proceeding. It has requested that expenses be fixed in the amount of $750.00. I find this request to be reasonable.

October 7, 2013

Richard Feldman

Arbitrator

Date