Insurer Must reimburse MVAC Fund for Accident Benefits

In Kalinkine v. Superintendent of Financial Services Commission, a Superior Court decision released this week, The Personal Insurance Company was ordered to reimburse the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund for accident benefits payments paid in error by the Fund. We have attached a copy of the decision.

The accident occurred on January 3, 2000. The claimant reported to the Fund that he had been hit (as a pedestrian) by an unidentified vehicle. The Fund proceeded to pay income replacement benefits to him on this basis.

Later, the Fund discovered (on reviewing the police report) that in fact, the driver of the car that struck the claimant had been identified and was insured with The Personal.

The Fund placed The Personal on notice, that it would seek reimbursement for the payments that it had mistakenly made (since the Fund is only liable where “the death of or personal injury to or loss of or damage to property of any person is occasioned in Ontario by an uninsured motor vehicle”).

For reasons that are not entirely clear from the decision, The Personal evidently refused to reimburse the Fund and also refused to make any payments to the claimant. The Fund brought this motion for a declaration that it was entitled to be reimbursed by The Personal and that The Personal was obliged to pay benefits to the claimant. The court granted the Fund’s motion, with costs “on a full indemnity basis”.

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