Natalie Geoghegan v. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, 2015 ONFSCDRS 8

Financial Services Commission des

Commission services financiers

of Ontario de l’Ontario

Neutral Citation: 2015 ONFSCDRS 8

FSCO A13-007991

BETWEEN:

NATALIE GEOGHEGAN

Applicant

and

WAWANESA MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY

Insurer

REASONS FOR DECISION

Before: Sudabeh Mashkuri

Heard: December 15, 2014, at the offices of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario in Toronto.

Appearances: No one appearing for Ms. Geoghegan

Antonietta Alfano for Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company

Issues:

The Applicant, Natalie Geoghegan, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on October 31, 2010. She applied for and received 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. Geoghegan applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”) under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended.

The issues in this hearing are:

Income Replacement Benefits at the rate of $400.00 per week from October 31, 2010 and on‑going, less amounts paid.
Housekeeping and home maintenance services at the rate of $100.00 per week from October 31, 2010 on going less amount paid.
Interest for the overdue payment of benefits.
The expenses in respect of the arbitration.

The hearing in this case was scheduled for January 15, 2015 at 10:00 a.m., at the offices of FSCO. Ms. Geoghegan did not appear for the hearing. Ms. Olga Tarassova from Wawanesa and Ms. Antonietta Alfano, legal counsel representing Wawanesa, were present at the hearing.

A motion was heard on July 4, 2014 by telephone conference call arranged by FSCO to determine whether Mr. Odisho, a licensed paralegal with Grillo Barristers Professional Corporation (“Grillo Barristers”), should be removed as Ms. Geoghegan’s representative. Arbitrator Alves was not satisfied that the Applicant had been properly served the motion materials and adjourned the motion until August 22, 2014 for further attempt to contact the Applicant.

On August 22, 2014 the motion was resumed by telephone conference call arranged by FSCO to remove Grillo Barristers as Ms. Geoghegan’s representative. The Applicant did not appear at the two motion dates scheduled by FSCO in 2014. On August 25, 2014, Arbitrator Alves ordered Grillo Barristers removed as Applicant’s representative.

At the commencement of the hearing on January 15, 2015, I adjourned the hearing for 20 minutes giving the Applicant an opportunity to appear. The Applicant failed to appear and the hearing in this matter proceeded in her absence. I am satisfied that the Applicant was properly served with the Notice of this hearing. Further, every opportunity was given to the Applicant to advance her claim. Ms. Alfano, submitted at the hearing that she had made several attempts to contact the Applicant; however, Ms. Geoghegan did not respond to any of her inquiries. Hearing no evidence from Ms. Geoghegan, and hearing no evidence from Wawanesa that would support Ms. Geoghegan’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:

With regards to the expenses in this hearing, Wawanesa claims it has exercised diligence and pursued this matter without Ms. Geoghegan appearing to advance her claim. Wawanesa requested a nominal amount of $500.00 for expenses. I find that Ms. Geoghegan having failed to appear on this matter, and not succeeding on the issues in dispute, is disentitled to expenses. I find that the amount requested by Wawanesa to be reasonable and I therefore fix Wawanesa’s expenses in the amount of $500.00.

January 16, 2015

Sudabeh Mashkuri

Arbitrator

Date