Adetutu Rotimi v. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, 2015 ONFSCDRS 275

Financial Services Commission des

Commission services financiers

of Ontario de l’Ontario

Neutral Citation: 2015 ONFSCDRS 275

FSCO A14-010399

BETWEEN:

ADETUTU ROTIMI

Applicant

and

WAWANESA MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY

Insurer

REASONS FOR DECISION

Before: Sudabeh Mashkuri

Heard: November 16, 2015, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto

Appearances: No one appearing for Ms. Rotimi

Andrew Papadimitropoulos for Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company

Issues:

The Applicant, Adetutu Rotimi, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on August 22, 2012. She applied for statutory accident benefits from Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company (“Wawanesa”), payable under the Schedule.¹ The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation, and Ms. Rotimi 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:

Whether the application for arbitration should be dismissed.
The expenses in respect of the arbitration.

The Applicant’s representative brought a motion on November 13, 2015 to be removed as a representative. She lost contact with the Applicant and could not obtain instructions. On November 17, 2015, Arbitrator Alves removed the Applicant’s representative from the record. The hearing for this matter was scheduled for December 16, 2015. At the commencement of the hearing on December 16, 2015, I adjourned the hearing for 20 minutes giving the Applicant an opportunity to appear. The Applicant failed to appear and the hearing in the matter proceeded in her absence. I am satisfied that the Applicant was properly served with the Notice of this hearing at her last known address. Every opportunity was given to the Applicant to advance her claim. Hearing no evidence from Ms. Rotimi, and hearing no evidence from Wawanesa that would support Ms. Rotimi’s claim, I find that the Applicant has failed to meet the burden of proving her claim. Therefore, her claim for benefits is dismissed.

EXPENSES:

Mr. Papadimitropoulos, on behalf of Wawanesa, requested a nominal amount of $700.00 for expenses. I find that Ms. Rotimi having failed to appear on this matter, and not succeeding on the issues in dispute, is disentitled to expenses. The general approach with respect to fees is to take a pragmatic, broad strokes approach with a view to fixing an amount that is reasonable. I find the amount requested by Wawanesa to be reasonable and I therefore fix Wawanesa’s expenses in the amount of $700.00.

December 30, 2015

Sudabeh Mashkuri

Arbitrator

Date