Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Commission des services financiers de l’Ontario
Neutral Citation: 2018 ONFSCDRS 158
Appeal P17-00086
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF ARBITRATIONS
YOGARASA YOGESVARAN Appellant
and
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY Respondent
BEFORE: David Evans
REPRESENTATIVES: David S. Wilson for Mr. Yogarasa Yogesvaran Jonathan Schrieder for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
HEARING DATE: On the Record with submissions received by December 20, 2018
APPEAL EXPENSES ORDER
Under section 283 of the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990 c. I.8 as it read immediately before being amended by Schedule 3 to the Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2014, and Regulation 664, R.R.O. 1990, as amended, it is ordered that:
- State Farm Automobile Insurance Company shall pay to Mr. Yogarasa Yogesvaran his legal appeal expenses in the amount of $1,000, inclusive of disbursements and HST.
December 20, 2018
David Evans Director’s Delegate Date
REASONS FOR DECISION
In a decision dated October 5, 2018, I allowed in part Mr. Yogesvaran’s appeal of the arbitration expense decision dated November 16, 2017 that had awarded State Farm a total of $16,115.96.
I reduced the award by one third, representing the transcript costs.
Mr. Yogesvaran now seeks his legal expenses of the appeal.
State Farm submits that each party should bear their own appeal costs on the grounds that the results were mixed, in that Mr. Yogesvaran was only successful on a single disbursement.
However, that single disbursement represented a substantial reduction in the expense award.
I call that a success.
State Farm does not dispute the $970.78 claimed. $250 thereof is the filing fee, the disbursements are minimal, and counsel saved time by deeming a reply to the insurer’s submissions unnecessary. I find that amount reasonable. I round it up to $1,000 to include Mr. Yogesvaran’s reply in this expense hearing, wherein he stated “Clearly, it is not in the insurer’s DNA to concede the insured’s entitlement to costs… [W]ithout the appeal, the insured would have been facing a far greater expense award.”
Mr. Yogesvaran is therefore entitled to legal appeal expenses of $1,000, all inclusive.
December 20, 2018
David Evans Director’s Delegate Date