Financial Services Commission des Commission services financiers of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2014 ONFSCDRS 106
FSCO A12-002310
BETWEEN:
MARIE MELANIE ARMAND-MARIUS
Applicant
and
WAWANESA MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
Insurer
REASONS FOR DECISION
Before: Rosemary Muzzi
Heard: March 3, 2014
Appearances: Thomas Long for Mrs. Armand-Marius Colagero Rumeo for Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
Issues:
The Applicant, Marie Melanie Armand-Marius, was allegedly injured in a motor vehicle accident on March 25, 2010. She applied for statutory accident benefits from Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company (“Wawanesa”), payable under the Schedule.1 Wawanesa refused to pay some of those benefits. The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation, and Mrs. Armand-Marius applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended.
Ms. Armand-Marius appeared at the first pre-hearing in this matter on April 8, 2013 but has not appeared again at the Commission.
As a result, Wawanesa seeks an order dismissing her application for arbitration and an award of expenses.
The issues in this hearing are:
Should the application for arbitration be dismissed?
Should Wawanesa be awarded its expenses?
Result:
The application for arbitration is dismissed.
Wawanesa is awarded it expenses in the amount of $1,528.67.
EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:
Ms. Armand-Marius did not appear for this hearing though she was duly notified of the date, time and place. She has not communicated directly with the Commission to advise of a change to her address or other contact information. She appeared for the initial pre-hearing in this matter, on April 8, 2013, but does not appear to have been in attendance at subsequent proceedings.
No one appeared on behalf of Ms. Armand-Marius, her counsel of record having been allowed to withdraw from the record earlier. Though counsel had been instructed in April 2013, there had been no direct contact with Ms. Armand-Marius since May 2, 2013. Numerous recent attempts by counsel to reach his client had also been unsuccessful and he had received no response to the correspondence he couriered to her last known address.
Counsel’s attempts to reach his client through co-applicants and a service provider also proved fruitless.
In the circumstances, I found it appropriate to allow counsel to withdraw.
I also find it appropriate to dismiss Ms. Armand-Marius’s application for arbitration given her failure to attend for her arbitration hearing.
EXPENSES:
Wawanesa is seeking its disbursements in the total amount of $6,193.14 .
As already indicated, this applicant’s case was related to three other arbitration cases and to be heard together with one of those other cases, at least in part. I note from the file that it was necessary to hold three resumptions of pre-hearing to sort out documentary issues. At the last resumption of pre-hearing held on February 7, 2014, Wawanesa produced the transcripts of the examinations under oath of each of the four applicants and also was to deliver an engineer’s report for the hearing, at that point, one month away. These are expenses sought by Wawanesa.
Having regard to the Expense Regulation, I find that Wawanesa is entitled to be reimbursed for Ms. Armand-Marius’s share of the costs associated with producing these documents for the hearing.
Accordingly, I award the following amounts:
$86.93 for photocopying (¼ of $347.70);
$676.93 for the EUO transcript related to Ms. Armand-Marius;
$666.82 for the engineering report ( ¼ of $2,667.26);
$97.99 for HST (¼ of $391.94).
In total, Wawanesa is awarded $1,528.67.
June 26, 2014
Rosemary Muzzi Arbitrator
Date
Financial Services Commission des Commission services financiers of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2014 ONFSCDRS 106
FSCO A12-002310
BETWEEN:
MARIE MELANIE ARMAND-MARIUS
Applicant
and
WAWANESA MUTUAL 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:
The application for arbitration is dismissed.
Ms. Armand-Marius shall pay Wawanesa its expenses in the amount of $1,528.67.
June 26, 2014
Rosemary Muzzi Arbitrator
Date
Footnotes
- The Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule — Accidents on or after November 1, 1996, Ontario Regulation 403/96, as amended.