Financial Services Commission des
Commission services financiers
of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2016 ONFSCDRS 7
FSCO A13-010112
BETWEEN:
CHANALEE BARTLEY
Applicant
and
ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA
Insurer
REASONS FOR DECISION
Before: Rosemary Muzzi
Heard: December 7, 2015, in Hamilton, Ontario
Appearances: No one appearing for Ms. Bartley
Richard Horst for Allstate Insurance Company of Canada
Issues:
The Applicant, Chanalee Bartley, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on January 4, 2012. She applied for some statutory accident benefits from Allstate Insurance Company of Canada (“Allstate”), payable under the Schedule1, which were denied. The parties were unable to resolve their disputes through mediation, and Ms. Bartley applied for arbitration at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (the "Commission") under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.I.8, as amended.
The issue before me is whether Ms. Bartley’s application for arbitration should be dismissed because she has failed to pursue her claims and did not present evidence in support of her claims at her arbitration hearing.
The issues in this hearing are:
Should Ms. Bartley’s application for arbitration be dismissed?
Should Allstate be awarded its expenses?
Result:
The application for arbitration is dismissed.
Ms. Bartley shall pay Allstate its expenses fixed at $1500.
EVIDENCE AND ANALYSIS:
Ms. Bartley has participated in proceedings at the Commission on a limited basis.
The application for arbitration in this matter was filed on her behalf on August 12, 2013. She failed to attend at the first pre-hearing scheduled for September 30, 2014 and the arbitrator was unable to reach her at the phone number on file. Ms. Bartley’s counsel of record at the time had also experienced difficulty reaching her to obtain instructions and advised that they would seek to get off the record. At the same time, Allstate requested that a hearing date be set in order that the matter could proceed expeditiously. The arbitration hearing was set for December 16, 2014.
Ms. Bartley’s counsel was removed from the record by order of the arbitrator made on November 25, 2014 during a teleconference proceeding. Ms. Bartley apparently participated in this proceeding and did not object to counsel’s withdrawal. The arbitrator also converted the date of December 16, 2014, originally set for an arbitration hearing, to a pre-hearing so that the parties could identify the issues and prepare the arbitration case.
The pre-hearing proceeded on December 16, 2014 with the participation of Ms. Bartley and Allstate but it is clear from the arbitrator’s pre hearing letter that though the issues in dispute were clarified, there continued to be production issues and witnesses were not identified. A new arbitration hearing date was set for December 7, 8 and 9, 2015 in Hamilton and a notice was delivered to Ms. Bartley at her last known address.
Dismissal of application for arbitration
Ms. Bartley did not appear for the arbitration hearing on December 7, 2015. She did not otherwise communicate with the Commission nor did she contact the reporter’s office where the hearing was proceeding to advise of her whereabouts or intentions in respect to her hearing. Allstate advised that they had received no documents or correspondence from her leading up to the arbitration date.
There is insufficient evidence before me to show that Ms. Bartley intended to pursue her claims to arbitration especially considering her failure to appear for the hearing. No evidence was presented in support of her claims. In these circumstances, I order that the claims set out in the application for arbitration are dismissed.
EXPENSES:
Allstate claimed that it is entitled to its expenses. I agree and order that Allstate is entitled to its expenses of the arbitration fixed at $1500.
January 7, 2016
Rosemary Muzzi Date
Arbitrator
Financial Services Commission des
Commission services financiers
of Ontario de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2016 ONFSCDRS 7
FSCO A13-010112
BETWEEN:
CHANALEE BARTLEY
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.
Ms. Bartley shall pay Allstate its expenses fixed at $1500.
January 7, 2016
Rosemary Muzzi Date
Arbitrator
Footnotes
- The Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule - Effective September 1, 2010, Ontario Regulation 34/10, as amended.