Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Jiehui Wang sustained catastrophic injuries — including severe traumatic brain injury, near-total loss of vision in her right eye, and significant facial and surgical scarring — in a June 2018 motorcoach collision on Highway 401 near Prescott, Ontario.
• Court approval was sought for the settlement of Jiehui's claim for past and future Statutory Accident Benefits in the amount of $626,074.11, plus accrued interest.
• Procedural relief was granted dispensing with the litigation guardian's affidavit requirement under r. 7.08(4)(a) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, consistent with the earlier ruling in related proceedings.
• Approval of the solicitor-client account of Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP in the amount of $109,845.40 — calculated on a quantum meruit basis at 15% of the settlement — was sought and granted.
• Distribution of settlement funds required court approval, including $122,184.00 to Kingston Health Sciences Centre and $3,253.48 to treatment providers.
• Management of the net settlement funds of $390,791.23 was approved in favour of Chunpu Dai, as Jiehui's attorney for property, to be invested with a state-owned bank in China.

Facts of the case

In June 2018, Jiehui Wang — a Chinese tourist — was a passenger on a motorcoach bus travelling on Highway 401 near Prescott, Ontario, when the bus veered off the road and collided with a rocky outcropping adjacent to the highway. Jiehui sustained a severe traumatic brain injury requiring two surgeries — a craniotomy and a revision surgery — resulting in significant cognitive deficits and leaving her dependent on 24-hour attendant care. She also suffered near-total loss of vision in her right eye and significant facial and surgical scarring. Jiehui was 63 years old at the time of the collision and now resides in China with her husband, Chunpu Dai, who serves as both her litigation guardian in these proceedings and her primary caregiver.

The respondent, Safety Insurance Company — a U.S.-based insurer of the bus — accepted Jiehui's application for accident benefits and began paying benefits in accordance with Ontario's Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS). Approximately ten months after the collision, the Insurer accepted Jiehui's designation as "catastrophically impaired" under the SABS. Jiehui and Chunpu, along with family members, commenced a tort action against the driver and owner of the bus — one of six actions arising from the June 2018 collision — all of which were settled at a global mediation in October 2024. Shortly thereafter, Jiehui's SABS claim was also settled, with both settlements subject to court approval.

Policy terms and regulatory framework at issue

The applicable framework is the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg. 34/10, as amended. Although Safety Insurance Company is a U.S.-based insurer, it accepted Jiehui's application and paid benefits consistent with the SABS as it would apply to an Ontario-based insurer. Jiehui's entitlements under the SABS included medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits. Her designation as catastrophically impaired was significant, as it engaged the enhanced benefit limits available under the SABS to catastrophically impaired claimants. The Firm, Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP, had entered into a contingency fee agreement with Jiehui and Chunpu in June 2018 at a rate of 25%; however, the solicitor-client account submitted for approval was not based on that agreement. Fees were instead proposed on a quantum meruit basis at 15% of the total settlement amount.

Court's reasoning and analysis

Justice Corthorn considered several factors in approving the SABS settlement as reasonable and in Jiehui's best interests, based on the affidavit of John Lundrigan of the Firm. Those factors included Jiehui's age — now 70 — and an estimated life expectancy of approximately 18 years, though the court noted she may live into her late eighties or even nineties. Additional considerations included the historical rate at which Jiehui had accessed her SABS entitlements, projected future care and housekeeping costs in China (where such costs are lower than in Canada), the challenges in obtaining documentary support from Chinese healthcare providers, and the cost of continued legal and translation services that would be required if the SABS claim remained unresolved.

On the solicitor-client account, the court was satisfied that the quantum meruit approach was appropriate. The proposed fees of $93,911.11 — equivalent to 15% of the $626,074.11 settlement — together with HST of $12,208.44 and disbursements including HST of $3,725.85, were found to be reasonable. Mr. Lundrigan's evidence confirmed that the combined fees from the tort action and the SABS claim remained below the total fees associated with the work collectively docketed by all timekeepers on both matters. The court also approved disbursements to treatment providers totalling $3,253.48 for services rendered after October 2024, and the payment of $122,184.00 to Kingston Health Sciences Centre — a negotiated resolution of KHSC's claim, which had originally totalled in excess of $250,000 — pursuant to the court's order in the related proceedings.

On the question of fund management, the court approved Chunpu's proposal to invest the net settlement funds in a series of staggered six-year investments with a state-owned bank in China, finding the arrangement reasonable and in Jiehui's best interests. The court acknowledged the practical impossibility of purchasing a structured settlement in Canada payable to a resident of China, and was satisfied that Chinese lawyers with relevant expertise had been consulted, and that Jiehui had granted Chunpu the Chinese equivalent of a power of attorney for property in 2025.

Ruling and overall outcome

Justice Corthorn granted all relief sought on the application. The settlement of Jiehui Wang's SABS claim was approved in the total amount of $626,074.11 plus accrued interest, the latter forming part of the consideration paid by Safety Insurance Company. The endorsement does not provide a breakdown of the $626,074.11 into individual heads of benefit; the document presents it solely as the total agreed settlement figure for past and future SABS, with the factors considered in arriving at that amount — including historical benefit usage, projected future care costs, life expectancy, and cost of services in China — addressed in Mr. Lundrigan's affidavit. A detailed sub-breakdown, if one exists, would be found in the minutes of settlement or the affidavit itself, neither of which is reproduced in the decision. From the total settlement, $3,253.48 was paid to treatment providers, $122,184.00 to Kingston Health Sciences Centre, and $109,845.40 to the Firm, leaving net settlement funds of $390,791.23 — together with all accrued interest — to be sent by wire transfer to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Suzhou branch, managed by Chunpu Dai as Jiehui's attorney for property. The applicant, Jiehui Wang, was the successful party. The application was otherwise dismissed without costs.