ARTICLE
7 January 2025

You've Received A Notice To Applicant Of Dispute Between Insurers, Now What?

BC
Bergeron Clifford

Contributor

Bergeron Clifford is a specialized injury law firm established in 1999, focusing exclusively on personal injury cases. With seasoned trial lawyers, the firm prepares every case for trial, ensuring clients have strong options both in and out of court. Committed to comprehensive client support, the team connects clients with community resources to aid in recovery. Consistently ranked as a Top 10 Injury Law Firm for eight years, the firm’s reputation, proven track record, and peer recognition underscore its dedication to delivering high-quality legal representation in the injury law sector.

You've been in a car accident and sustained injuries. After completing a deluge of forms requested by your car insurer, you are now served with a Notice to Applicant of Dispute...
Canada Insurance

You've been in a car accident and sustained injuries. After completing a deluge of forms requested by your car insurer, you are now served with a Notice to Applicant of Dispute Between Insurers and wondering what it's all about.

Background

In Ontario, insurers will sometimes argue between themselves about who is supposed to respond to your claim for Accident Benefits after you've been in a car accident. These are referred to as "Priority Disputes".

If you have received a Notice to Applicant of Dispute Between Insurers it means that the insurer who you applied for Accident Benefit coverage believes that another insurer (and insurance policy) is in "higher priority" to respond to your claim. In other words, they want to transfer your claim to a different insurer.

The Law

The Insurance Act sets out which insurer is in the highest priority to respond to the claim and provide coverage. For example, you own a car and have your own car insurance. You were involved in an accident while travelling as an occupant in a friend's car. In this case, your own auto insurer is in the highest priority to respond to your claim – not your friend's. On the other hand, if you did not have your own car insurance (and were not a dependant on anyone else at the time) then your claim would likely be made through your friend's car insurance policy.

Dependency

The most common source of Priority Disputes are the result of accidents involving individuals who are arguably "dependant" on a policyholder. This is because dependants of insureds can have access to Accident Benefits through policy of the person they are dependant on. Alternatively, if the individual is not a dependant then another insurer would likely be in higher priority to respond to their Accident Benefit claim.

What this means for you

Importantly, you will continue to receive Accident Benefits that you are entitled to from the insurer that you applied to while the insurers attempt to resolve their dispute in the background.

These disputes can take time to resolve. Often, as the claimant, you can provide the most important evidence to the insurers during the dispute process. For that reason, your cooperation is required. Where a priority dispute concerns the issue of dependency, the claimant and other friends/family members may be asked to write a statement or give sworn oral evidence about their life before the accident as it relates to dependency.

Giving evidence without counsel can be challenging, confusing and isolating especially if you are not well informed.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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