Sara Baum was successful in her motion to bar the claimant’s LAT application from proceeding and have the application dismissed pursuant to sections 32 and 55 of the SABS. The claim arose from an accident that occurred on March 1, 2019. The claimant advised her insurer shortly after the accident that she had not suffered injuries from the accident. She did not advise her insurer of her intention to apply for accident benefits until March 1, 2021 and submitted her OCF-1 on March 7, 2021.
Adjudicator Terry Hunter rejected the claimant’s submissions. He noted that ignorance of the law did not relieve the claimant of her failure to comply with Section 32(1) of the SABS. Adjudicator Hunter also found that the insurer would suffer greater prejudice if he permitted the application to proceed. The evidence indicated that the claimant had not suffered any injuries or, at most, had sustained soft tissue injuries in the accident. The insurer, on the other hand, was no longer be able to properly assess and adjust the application due to the lack of contemporaneous evidence regarding the claimant’s condition.
The claimant’s application was barred from proceeding and her application was dismissed.