Lan Nguyen v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 2014 ONFSCDRS 150

Financial Services Commission des

Commission services financiers

of Ontario de l’Ontario

Neutral Citation: 2014 ONFSCDRS 150

FSCO A13-007703

BETWEEN:

LAN NGUYEN

Applicant

and

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE

INSURANCE COMPANY

Insurer

REASONS FOR DECISION

Before: Edward Lee

Heard: July 11, 2014, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto

Appearances: No one attended for Ms. Nguyen

Theresa Martin for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Issues:

The Applicant, Lan Nguyen, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on March 23, 2010. She applied for statutory accident benefits from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”), payable under the Schedule.¹ The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation, and Ms. Nguyen applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended.

The issues in this hearing are:

Should the application be dismissed?
Which party is entitled to their expenses?

Result:

The application is dismissed.
State Farm is entitled to their expenses.
Ms. Nguyen shall pay State Farm expenses in the amount of $750.00, inclusive of all fees, disbursements, and taxes.

EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:

At a pre-hearing discussion conducted on May 26, 2014, I determined that Ms. Nguyen had dismissed her former representative. No other communications had been received from her indicating that she wished to replace her representative with another.

I scheduled an arbitration hearing for Ms. Nguyen and sent a letter to her informing her of that date. On July 11, 2014, the arbitration was held. Neither Ms. Nguyen, nor anyone purporting to represent her, appeared. Ms. Martin appeared on behalf of State Farm. Ms. Nguyen bore the burden of proving her claim. No evidence was submitted in regard to her claim. Therefore, Ms. Nguyen’s claim is dismissed.

EXPENSES:

Ms. Martin submitted a Bill of Costs in regard to the arbitration. State Farm was entirely successful in this matter and is entitled to its reasonable expenses.

Having regard to its Bill of Costs, I find State Farm is entitled to expenses in the amount of $750.00, inclusive of all fees, disbursements, and taxes.

September 17, 2014

Edward Lee

Arbitrator

Date