Ontario tribunal requires insurer to pay interest on accident benefits award.
The Ontario Licence Appeal Tribunal has varied its own earlier decision in Larmond v. Onlia Insurance Company, ruling that interest must accrue on awards granted under s. 10 of O. Reg. 664 - not just on the underlying benefit payments. The reconsideration decision was released May 15, 2026.
The dispute stems from a November 15, 2022 motor vehicle accident. The applicant filed her application for dispute resolution on May 23, 2024. By the time the parties reached a written hearing, Onlia had approved the disputed treatment plans and the attendant care benefit, leaving only the questions of an award and interest. In its original decision released January 8, 2026, the Tribunal ordered Onlia to pay $13,019.34, representing 15 percent of the total approved treatment plans and attendant care benefits. The treatment plans in dispute totaled $24,215.60. The attendant care figure was anchored to a Form 1 calculation of $3,000.00 per month from March 15, 2023 to December 2, 2024.
The applicant sought reconsideration on two grounds. First, she argued the Tribunal failed to award interest under s. 51(3) of the Schedule for the period before her application was filed. Vice-Chair Craig Mazerolle rejected that ground, finding no evidence the attendant care benefit had been incurred. As he put it, "A payment only becomes overdue once it has been incurred." Without incurred amounts, there was no overdue benefit for s. 51(3) interest to attach to.
The second ground produced a different result. The applicant argued that s. 10 of O. Reg. 664 contains a mandatory interest component once an award is issued. The provision allows the Tribunal, where it finds an insurer has unreasonably withheld or delayed payments, to award a lump sum of up to 50 percent of the amount owed, together with interest at 2 percent per month, compounded monthly, from the time the benefits first became payable.
Onlia argued that the legislative shift from "shall award" in the former Insurance Act to "may award" in the current regulation gave the Tribunal discretion over the interest piece as well. The insurer cited Schindelheim v. TD General Insurance Company, where an award had been granted without any allowance for interest.
Mazerolle was not persuaded. He found the word "may" relates to whether to grant an award at all, not to the interest that follows once that discretion is exercised. Read together with the accident benefits regime's consumer protection mandate, he concluded the interest component is mandatory once an award is issued. He also noted that the award order in Schindelheim has been overturned on reconsideration.
The result: the order at paragraph 42(i) of the original decision was varied to require Onlia to pay the $13,019.34 award plus any interest payable under s. 10 of O. Reg. 664. Where the Tribunal finds an unreasonable withholding or delay, interest applies to the award under s. 10 of O. Reg. 664, accruing at 2 percent per month, compounded monthly, from when the benefits first became payable.
