The claimant was involved in an accident on June 14, 2018 when he was struck by a BMW driven by a third-party who was making a left-hand turn. the insurer argued that the accident was staged, and that the claimant was not entitled to claim accident benefits as a staged accident did not meet the definition of an accident. Adjudicator Maleki-Yazdi accepted that the accident was staged. The insurer submitted ample evidence, including an expert accident reconstructionist who testified that there was more than one collision to the claimant’s vehicle, rather than the single impact alleged, as well as investigative materials including a store surveillance video showing two tow trucks already on the scene approximately 90 seconds after the alleged accident occurred, compared to 20 minutes after as stated by the claimant. The claimant’s car could also not be seen in the video. Coupled with the claimant’s excessively contradictory evidence at his EUO, specifically in relation to the timeline of events, the claim for accident benefits was dismissed.
