A US insurer's accident benefits payout to a catastrophically injured Chinese tourist has won court approval - bound for a state bank in China.
In Wang v. Safety Insurance Company, 2026 ONSC 3237, Justice Sylvia Corthorn approved the $626,074.11 settlement on June 2, 2026. The applicant, Jiehui Wang, was a passenger on a bus that veered off the road near Prescott, Ontario, and struck a rocky outcropping in June 2018. The passengers were tourists from China on the second leg of a North American tour.
The respondent, Safety Insurance Company, is the insurer of the bus and is based in the United States. The insurer accepted Wang's application for accident benefits and began paying her in line with Ontario's Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) - the schedule that would apply if an Ontario-based insurer were paying. Approximately ten months after the collision, the insurer accepted Wang's designation as "catastrophically impaired" under the SABS.
Wang's injuries were severe. She sustained a traumatic brain injury treated through two surgeries, was left with significant cognitive deficits, and now requires 24-hour attendant care. She also lost almost all vision in her right eye and was left with significant facial and surgical scarring.
The accident benefits claim was one piece of a wider resolution. Wang and her family had commenced a tort action - one of six arising from the June 2018 crash - which settled at a global mediation in October 2024. Her SABS claim settled shortly afterward, and both settlements required court approval.
For claims professionals, the decision is notable for the cross-border mechanics of paying a catastrophically impaired claimant who lives overseas. Wang and her husband, Chunpu Dai, who acts as her litigation guardian, both reside in China and do not speak English. The court noted the insurer would send payment in US dollars, which then had to be wired to Wang in China.
It is not possible, the court observed, to purchase a structured settlement in Canada that provides payments to a resident of China. Instead, the net settlement funds of $390,791.23, plus interest, will be sent by wire transfer to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, after pre-approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange where required. The funds will be placed in staggered six-year investments with a state-owned bank.
From the settlement, the court approved $109,845.40 in fees, disbursements and HST for the law firm Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP; $122,184 for the Kingston Health Sciences Centre, which had treated Wang; and $3,253.48 for outstanding treatment providers. The funds had been held in a high-interest account since a December 2024 court order, with the accrued interest forming part of the settlement consideration.
Wang, who was 63 at the time of the crash, is now in her early seventies. Justice Corthorn found the settlement reasonable and in her best interests, and approved it.
