If you are in an automobile collision you are entitled to receive
first party benefits from your own insurer under the Statutory Accident
Benefits Schedule (SABS). In order to determine if you are entitled to
treatment, or other benefits such as income replacement, the insurer
may, in appropriate circumstances, send you to be assessed by doctors of
their choosing, paid by them.
Often upon arriving at the assessment centre you are asked to sign a lengthy consent form in order for the assessment to proceed. Many of the consents you are asked to sign go too far. By signing these consents you may be permitting the assessment company to use your personal data for unintended purposes, or be signing away legal rights without knowing it.
At Bonn Law Office we have taken the position that since there is nothing in the legislation that requires you to sign the consent, you will not be signing it. We provide the insurer and the assessment centre with a simple consent drafted by our office that protects your rights, while providing enough information that the assessment centres should not have any issues with proceeding. We often get a lot of resistance from insurers regarding our position.
Unfortunately the insurer or the assessment centre often reply by saying that if you do not sign the assessment companies’ lengthy and overreaching consent, you will be held in non-compliance under the SABS (meaning that your benefits will be terminated). Or, when you show up at the assessment the doctor informs you that they will not go ahead unless you sign their consent putting you in a very uncomfortable situation.
Recent case law confirms the position taken by our office. In Luther v. Economical FSCO A10-003773, where on the basis of not signing a lengthy insurer’s consent form, Mr. Luther’s benefits were stopped for nearly 10 months, Arbitrator Wilson found:
If you are faced with an upcoming insurer’s examination and you are represented by a lawyer, ask your lawyer about a consent and whether you need to sign one. If you do not have a lawyer, call the insurance adjuster and ask that the adjuster send you a copy of the consent that you will be asked to sign. Make sure that the consent is limited to only the specific assessment being sought and only for the benefit in question.
Source: Joelle Briggs-Sears, Personal Injury Lawyer, Bonn Law Office
Often upon arriving at the assessment centre you are asked to sign a lengthy consent form in order for the assessment to proceed. Many of the consents you are asked to sign go too far. By signing these consents you may be permitting the assessment company to use your personal data for unintended purposes, or be signing away legal rights without knowing it.
At Bonn Law Office we have taken the position that since there is nothing in the legislation that requires you to sign the consent, you will not be signing it. We provide the insurer and the assessment centre with a simple consent drafted by our office that protects your rights, while providing enough information that the assessment centres should not have any issues with proceeding. We often get a lot of resistance from insurers regarding our position.
Unfortunately the insurer or the assessment centre often reply by saying that if you do not sign the assessment companies’ lengthy and overreaching consent, you will be held in non-compliance under the SABS (meaning that your benefits will be terminated). Or, when you show up at the assessment the doctor informs you that they will not go ahead unless you sign their consent putting you in a very uncomfortable situation.
Recent case law confirms the position taken by our office. In Luther v. Economical FSCO A10-003773, where on the basis of not signing a lengthy insurer’s consent form, Mr. Luther’s benefits were stopped for nearly 10 months, Arbitrator Wilson found:
Mr. Luther was not in breach of section 37(7) of the Schedule in
that he made himself available for his assessment and attended on time
and ready to consent verbally and by counsel to the proposed
assessments. His failure to sign an unapproved “consent” form, in the
context of these examinations, does not constitute a “failure to
attend.”
This is a win for the underdog; you!If you are faced with an upcoming insurer’s examination and you are represented by a lawyer, ask your lawyer about a consent and whether you need to sign one. If you do not have a lawyer, call the insurance adjuster and ask that the adjuster send you a copy of the consent that you will be asked to sign. Make sure that the consent is limited to only the specific assessment being sought and only for the benefit in question.
Source: Joelle Briggs-Sears, Personal Injury Lawyer, Bonn Law Office
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