Anthiresuppillai v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 2015 ONFSCDRS 2

Financial Services Commission des

Commission services financiers

of Ontario de l’Ontario

Neutral Citation: 2015 ONFSCDRS 2

FSCO A13-004627

BETWEEN:

SURESKUMAR ANTHIRESUPPILLAI

Applicant

and

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY

Insurer

REASONS FOR DECISION

Before: James Robinson

Heard: December 8, 2014, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto.

Appearances: Applicant not in attendance

Domenic Nicassio

for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Issues:

The Applicant, Sureskumar Anthiresuppillai, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on August 22, 2010. He applied for and received statutory accident benefits from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”), payable under the Schedule.¹ State Farm subsequently terminated weekly income replacement benefits. The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation, and Mr. Anthiresuppillai 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:

Is Mr. Anthiresuppillai entited to receive weekly caregiver benefits, from August 31, 2011, to August 22, 2012, at a rate of $250 per week?
Is Mr. Anthiresuppillai entitled to payments for housekeeping and home maintenance services, from August 31, 2011, to August 22, 2012, at a rate of $100 per week?
Is Mr. Anthiresuppillai entitled to payments for the cost of a disability assessment, by Planet Valley Health Inc., in the amount of $263.72?
Is State Farm liable to pay Mr. Anthiresuppillai’s expenses in respect of the arbitration?
Is Mr. Anthiresuppillai liable to pay State Farm’s expenses in respect of the arbitration?
Is Mr. Anthiresuppillai entitled to interest for the overdue payment of benefits?

Result:

The applicant’s claims are dismissed in their entirety.
The applicant shall pay to State Farm its expenses of the arbitration.

EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:

Background

The applicant failed to attend the pre-hearing discussion in this matter, which proceeded on January 6, 2014. The applicant failed to attend the motion date set for his counsel to remove himself from the record on April 7, 2014.

The applicant failed to attend the hearing of this matter at 10:00 A.M. on December 8, 2014, at the Offices of the Commission, although duly served with a Notice of hearing on January 14, 2014.

On the hearing date the Commission waited thirty minutes and then proceeded to hear the respondent’s motion for dismissal.

Conclusion

The applicant, having failed to attend the pre-hearing in this matter, thereafter failed to comply with any of the production orders made by the Commission. His solicitor at the time was unable to determine his whereabouts. Mail addressed to the applicant at his last known address has been returned as undeliverable both to the respondent and to the Commission over a period of eleven months. I am satisfied on the basis of the available evidence that the applicant has abandoned his claim.

EXPENSES:

The respondent State Farm shall have its expenses of this matter. I am not satisfied that the applicant’s act of abandonment attains to the level of conduct which tended to prolong, obstruct or hinder a proceeding.

The insurer consented to an order for costs in the amount of $2,000.00 plus HST for a total payable by the applicant to the respondent of $2,260.00 which I find to be reasonable in all the facts and circumstances of the case.

January 6, 2015

James Robinson Date

Arbitrator