“Directly Causes”
ACCIDENT BENEFITS
The test for entitlement to accident benefits is contained in the Section 2(1) of the Ontario Automobile Insurance Ontario Regulation 403/96, Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule – Accidents on or After November 1, 1996, as follows:
2(1) In this Regulation, “accident” means an incident in which the use or operation of an automobile directly causes an impairment or directly causes damage to any prescription eyewear, denture, hearing aid, prosthesis or other medical or dental devise; (“accident”)
The importance of this section is the use of the words “directly causes”. This would appear to be an attempt to create a limitation on what had previously been the entitlement of an injured claimant to benefits arising as a result of the motor vehicle accident. In the case of Desbiens v. Mordini [2004] O.J. No. 4735, Ontario Superior Court, the Court said that to require an insured person to trace “the chain of causation” with precision ...