The claimant testified that she exited left out of a parking lot when another vehicle struck her car on the front driver’s side. Both vehicles were towed from the accident scene in London to Mississauga. The police attended the scene and created a motor vehicle collision report, but did not conduct an investigation. The report stated that damage occurred to the entire front of the vehicle and that the steering was broken, which caused the air bags to deploy. The claimant applied for accident benefits and the insurer denied the application, stating that the claimant was not involved in a legitimate accident. An accident reconstruction specialist was hired by the insurer and testified that the accident did not occur as reported by the claimant. He concluded that the two vehicles were in a collision, but not with each other. He noted that damage to both vehicles ought to match in height, severity and character, and that these factors did not match the incident as reported. The vehicle and collision forces did not align with the pre-impact direction of travel of either vehicle. The expert concluded that the cars were towed to the collision site and that the accident was staged. Adjudicator Reilly held that the claimant did not meet her burden of proof to establish that an accident occurred. The adjudicator was heavily persuaded by the accident reconstruction specialist’s report, and determined there were significant issues of credibility with the evidence provided by the claimant and the other driver.
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