REASONS FOR DECISION

Before: Deborah Pressman Heard: March 10, 2015, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto Appearances: Ms. Loganathan not appearing Jennifer Arduini for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Issues:

The Applicant, Antonitta Loganathan, was allegedly injured in a motor vehicle accident on December 10, 2010. She applied for statutory accident benefits from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”), payable under the Schedule.¹ A dispute arose with respect to her benefits. The parties were unable to resolve the dispute through mediation and Ms. Loganathan applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”).² Despite notices, Ms. Loganathan failed to participate in the arbitration process.

The issues in this hearing are:

Should Ms. Loganathan’s Application for Arbitration be dismissed?
Is State Farm entitled to its expenses incurred in respect of this arbitration?

Result:

Ms. Loganathan’s Application for Arbitration is dismissed.
State Farm entitled to its expenses in the amount of $1,500.00 incurred in this arbitration.

EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:

For the reasons that follow Ms. Loganathan’s claims are dismissed.

Ms. Loganathan failed to appear and communicate with FSCO with respect to her arbitration. She did not appear at the pre-hearing discussion on March 25, 2014. The pre-hearing proceeded in her absence and her arbitration hearing was scheduled to proceed on March 10, 2015. Prior to her hearing, Ms. Loganathan’s counsel was permitted to withdraw as her representative.³

I am satisfied that Ms. Loganathan was given notice of all of the proceedings related to her arbitration at her last known address.⁴ Pursuant to Rule 37.7 of the DRPC, this arbitration hearing proceeded in her absence.

Ms. Loganathan bears the onus of proving entitlement to the claimed benefits. Since she did not appear at the hearing and no evidence was presented to support her claims, this arbitration is dismissed.

EXPENSES:

I find that State Farm is entitled to its expenses of the arbitration, which I fix at $1,500.00 (inclusive of all fees, disbursements and applicable taxes).

I find that only the first criterion, “each party's degree of success in the outcome of the proceeding,” is relevant to this expense determination.⁵ State Farm, as the “successful party”, is entitled to its reasonable expenses.

State Farm presented a bill of costs claiming a total of $2,625.24 for its expenses. In considering the number of hours of legal services and permitted hourly rate that can reasonably be claimed with respect to this matter, I find that $1,500.00 is appropriate and permitted under the Expense Regulation.

In fixing this amount I have considered the time counsel spent reviewing the file, preparing a Response, and preparing for and attending at the pre-hearing discussion. I also considered further attendances at the motion and hearing and note that these attendances turned out to be relatively short, lasting less than an hour each. In addition, State Farm confirmed that the pre-hearing arbitrator clearly instructed not to prepare for a contested hearing.

Pursuant to subsection 282(11) of the Insurance Act, Ms. Loganathan is ordered to pay State Farm’s expenses in the amount of $1,500.00 (inclusive of all costs, disbursements and taxes).

June 2, 2015

Deborah Pressman Arbitrator

Date

ARBITRATION ORDER

Financial Services Commission of Ontario

Neutral Citation: 2015 ONFSCDRS 120 FSCO A13-006132

BETWEEN:

ANTONITTA LOGANATHAN Applicant

and

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY Insurer

Under section 282 of the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended, it is ordered that:

Ms. Loganathan’s Application for Arbitration is dismissed.
Ms. Loganathan shall pay State Farm’s expenses in the amount of $1,500.00 in respect of this arbitration.