The claimants’ daughter was involved in an accident in Ontario. The claimants resided in China at the time. They moved to Canada to assist their daughter with her recovery. They applied for accident benefits under the daughter’s policy. The insurer argued that the claimants were not insured persons at the time of the accident. Adjudicator Watt agreed with the insurer. The claimants were required to show that the were principally dependent on the daughter for financial assistance at the time of the accident. Adjudicator Watt held that the evidence submitted by the claimant was insufficient to prove dependency. There was insufficient evidence of the claimants’ access to their daughter’s bank account, or that they withdrew funds on a regular basis, or that they required the funds for their own financial needs. The claimants did not provide admissible evidence regarding the cost of living in their home town (Chengdu, China). Adjudicator Watt criticized the claimants’ failure to put forward affidavit evidence from either the themselves or their daughter regarding the financial relationship. As a procedural matter, Adjudicator Watt excluded three documents from the hearing because they were not disclosed by the claimants to the insurer in accordance with the Case Conference Order, and had only first been provided as part of the claimants’ submissions.
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