Fatal stabbing of cabbie not an accident: FSCO

An insurer was right to deny accident benefits to the widow of a taxi cab driver whose husband was stabbed to death while on duty, ruled a Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) arbitrator.
Morteza Khorasani died as a result of a stab wound inflicted while operating a Zurich-insured taxi cab in 2005, writes FSCO arbitrator Jeffrey Rogers.
His widow applied for statutory accident benefits under the Schedule. Zurich refused, taking the position that Khorasani did not sustain an impairment as a result of an accident within the meaning of section 2 of the Schedule, writes Rogers.
Rogers sided with Zurich, citing past cases that clearly establish that an assault on a cab driver, even when it occurs while operating the cab, is an intervening act that breaks the chain of causation, he wrote.
Mr. Khorasani was using an automobile for an ordinary purpose when he was injured, and although it is arguable that, but for the fact that he was a taxi driver, he would not have been injured, the assault by Shane Smith was an intervening act, that cannot fairly be considered to be part of the risk created by the use or operation of the cab, he wrote in his decision.