The claimant applied to the LAT for a catastrophic impairment designation under Criteria 8. She had already exhausted her $65,000 non-CAT policy limit. The claimant bore the onus of proving on a balance of probabilities that she had a “Marked” or Class 4 impairment in at least three of the four domains set out in the AMA Guides. Adjudicator Forbes noted that a “Marked” impairment sufficient for a CAT designation requires the claimant to show that their impairments “significantly impede useful functioning.” In conducting this analysis, Adjudicator Forbes emphasized that it was crucial that the claimant’s pre- and post-accident functions be accounted for based on the available medical and documentary evidence. Adjudicator Forbes found that the medical and documentary evidence showed that the claimant had pre-existing limitations on her daily life before the accident, which were not significantly impeded by the accident, and that the claimant’s post-accident condition showed signs of improvement. Adjudicator Forbes held that the presence of “some” post-accident limitations on a claimant’s useful functioning does not rise to the high bar of significantly impeded useful functioning. As a result, the claimant was not deemed CAT and no further medical/rehabilitation benefits were payable.
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