Limitation Period Trumps Invalid Election

The recent FSCO decision on a preliminary issue in Kanagalingam v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company¹ confirms that insurers can rely on the statutory two-year limitation period when a weekly benefit is properly denied, even if the underlying election of benefits is found to be invalid. In her decision, Arbitrator Morris found that even though the claimant's election of a caregiver benefit ("CGB") was an "invalid election", the subsequent claim for an income replacement benefit ("IRB") was time-barred when the claimant sought the new benefit after three years. The initial clear and unequivocal denial of the IRB following the claimant's application for benefits and election of a CGB started the clock on the two-year limitation period.