New Brunswick's top court has backed an insurer's $0.30 per kilometre transportation rate for accident benefits, rejecting a challenge that sought nearly double.
In Prestidge v. Definity Insurance Company, 2026 NBCA 49, the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick dismissed Jaclyn Prestidge's appeal on May 7, 2026, upholding Definity Insurance Company's reimbursement rate of $0.30 per kilometre for transportation costs under Section B of her Standard Automobile Policy.
Prestidge was injured in a motor vehicle accident on June 4, 2024. The Moncton resident drove her personal vehicle to treatment appointments - a two-kilometre round trip for physiotherapy and a ten-kilometre round trip for massage therapy. Since the accident, Definity had paid those transportation costs at $0.30 per kilometre.
Prestidge sought $0.57 per kilometre instead, pointing to an earlier Court of King's Bench decision, Hilary Bradley v. TD Insurance, and to government rates - the federal government reimbursing employees $0.575 per kilometre (raised to $0.60 effective July 1, 2025) and New Brunswick paying between $0.46 and $0.58 per kilometre. Definity declined to raise the rate. The insurer noted the Bradley judge had said his decision was not meant to set a precedent and that rates should be determined case by case.
One evidentiary gap weighed against Prestidge's case. Her affidavit listed cost categories - insurance, fuel, registration, inspection, maintenance, and repairs - but provided no evidence of her actual vehicle expenses. The application judge had found Definity's rate reasonable, and the Court of Appeal saw no reason to interfere.
Justice LaVigne, writing for the unanimous panel, noted that neither the Standard Automobile Policy nor the Insurance Act defines "reasonable" or "expenses," sets a kilometric rate, or establishes a method for calculating one. The Insurance Act requires reimbursement of reasonable expenses, not actual expenses - the same principle that caps funeral expenses at $2,500 and weekly income loss benefits at $250.
Reviewing arbitration rulings and tort cases across Canada, the court found rates awarded ranging from $0.27 to $0.60 per kilometre depending on circumstances. As Justice LaVigne put it, "Reasonableness implies a range of possibilities."
For claims handlers, the ruling draws a useful line. An insurer can set a kilometric rate it considers reasonable to allow timely payments - but that discretion is not absolute. The insurer cannot bind the insured to its chosen rate. Where the parties disagree, courts will decide both whether the rate is reasonable and whether the insurer exercised its discretion arbitrarily, capriciously, or in bad faith.
The Court of Appeal also rejected reliance on Bradley. That transcript ran only three pages, with no reference to the Standard Automobile Policy, the Insurance Act, or any case law. Decisions made without full consideration, the court held, do not bind other judges of the same court.
Definity's claims representative had stated in her affidavit that the insurer exercised its discretion to pay travel expenses reasonably and in good faith. With no contrary evidence - and no proof of actual vehicle costs from Prestidge - the appeal was dismissed with $1,500 in costs payable to Definity.
