Will Any Reason Do?

• Author: Ms Lisa Armstrong
• Law Firm: Strigberger Brown Armstrong LLP
• Published date: 09 February 2023

The Ontario Court of Appeal has allowed Allstate's appeal from the Divisional Court decision in Varriano v. Allstate Company of Canada.

The claimant, Nunzo Varriano, was injured in a motor vehicle accident on September 30, 2015, and paid IRBs from October 7, 2015, until he returned to work. On December 30, 2015, Allstate provided Mr. Varriano with and Explanation of Benefits that stated:

Your Income Replacement Benefit has been stopped on December 2, 2015, as you returned to work fulltime on December 2, 2015. No further Income Replacement will be paid after this date.

This was the only reason given for the stoppage of the IRB. More specifically, no medical reasons were provided.

Mr. Varriano continued working until July 2018. He filed an application with the LAT on September 28, 2018, disputing the denial of his IRB. Allstate took the position that Mr. Varriano's application was limitation barred, having been filed more than two years after the denial of December 30, 2015. At a preliminary issue hearing Adjudicator Boyce found that...