Financial Services Commission des
Commission services financiers
of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2014 ONFSCDRS 162
FSCO A11-001819
BETWEEN:
HODAN AHMED
Applicant
and
ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA
Insurer
REASONS FOR DECISION
Before: Rosemary Muzzi
Heard: September 26, 2014, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto.
Appearances: No one appearing for Ms. Ahmed
Eric Zadro for Allstate Insurance Company of Canada
Issues:
Hodan Ahmed, the applicant, was involved in a motor vehicle accident on November 25, 2009. She applied for and received some statutory accident benefits from Allstate Insurance Company of Canada (“Allstate”), payable under the Schedule.1 Allstate denied additional benefits and sought repayment of the benefits paid. The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation, and Ms. Ahmed applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended.
Ms. Ahmed’s application for arbitration proceeded through a number of stages at the Commission, some of which she participated in and others for which she was absent. As a result of her failure to participate in the later stages of her arbitration case, Allstate requested an order dismissing her application for arbitration.
The issue in this hearing is:
- Should Ms. Ahmed’s application for arbitration be dismissed?
Result:
- Ms. Ahmed’s application for arbitration is dismissed.
EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:
Ms. Ahmed did not appear at the Commission on the date set to arbitrate the merits of her accident benefits claims.
The date for arbitration followed a number of other proceedings, including pre-hearings and a preliminary hearing, which Ms. Ahmed did attend. Ms. Ahmed’s application for arbitration had this more complex history at the Commission because of the nature of the dispute with Allstate. Allstate took the position that the accident did not occur as reported by Ms. Ahmed and that as a result she was liable to repay the benefits paid to her.
Ms. Ahmed participated in the proceedings at the early stages: she participated in a hearing to have her counsel removed from the record in September 2011 and represented herself at the first pre-hearing in May 2012 during which the date for the preliminary hearing was set down. She also represented herself at the preliminary hearing in July 2013. In November 2013 an arbitrator ruled in Ms. Ahmed’s favour and found that she had been involved in an accident as defined in the Schedule.
Following the release of the arbitrator’s decision, Allstate requested a resumption of pre-hearing to set the hearing date for the arbitration on the substance of Ms. Ahmed’s accident benefits claims. The Commission had no information that any of Ms. Ahmed’s contact information had changed. Nonetheless, Ms. Ahmed did not participate in the resumed pre-hearing though properly notified of the date and time. Ms. Ahmed also failed to attend on the date set for hearing though properly notified of the date and time.
In the circumstances, I find it appropriate to dismiss her application for arbitration.
EXPENSES:
The parties may raise this issue within 30 days of the date of this decision in accordance with the provisions of the Dispute Resolution Practice Code.
October 3, 2014
Rosemary Muzzi
Arbitrator
Date
Financial Services Commission des
Commission services financiers
of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2014 ONFSCDRS 162
FSCO A11-001819
BETWEEN:
HODAN AHMED
Applicant
and
ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA
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.
October 3, 2014
Rosemary Muzzi
Arbitrator
Date
Footnotes
- The Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule — Accidents on or after November 1, 1996, Ontario Regulation 403/96, as amended.