The Administrator of the Walkerton Compensation Plan brought a motion to appoint a new arbitrator to complete a claimant's hearing after the original arbitrator died before rendering a decision.
The claimant opposed the appointment, alleging a reasonable apprehension of bias because the proposed arbitrator was the deceased arbitrator's former law partner, and sought a hearing de novo.
The court dismissed the bias claim, appointed the proposed arbitrator, and ordered the rehearing to proceed based on the existing transcripts, by analogy to the Courts of Justice Act.
The court also awarded the claimant $15,000 in interim legal fees due to the extraordinary circumstances.
