The claimant was injured in an accident on December 2, 2016 and applied for benefits. The insurer denied the claim for NEBs. The preliminary issue for the Tribunal was whether the policy of insurance was entered into or renewed before June 1, 2016 such that the claimant would have access to the pre-June 1, 2016 SABS benefits. The claimant argued that because the insured (the claimant’s father) agreed to the terms of the contract in April 2016, it was a pre-June 2016 contract. The insurer argued that because the policy documents were issued in June 2016, with an effective date listed as June 14, 2016, the policy was a post-June 2016 policy. Adjudicator Lake held that the insurance contract between the insured and the insurer was entered into on April 28, 2016, and therefore, prior to the June 1, 2016 SABS. In her decision, Adjudicator Lake reviewed the communication between the insurer and the insured, which stipulated that the contract was entered into prior to June 1, 2016 and that it was not a renewal, as the insurer changed its entity name for the new contract. While the effective date of the contract was June 14, 2016, Adjudicator Lake found that the date of the contract, April 28, 2016, was the effective date of the insurance contract, as this was the date that the claimant agreed to terms of his insurance contract. Therefore, Adjudicator Lake found that the pre-June 1, 2016 SABS applied to the case.
