This is a motion decision made prior to a written preliminary hearing that was scheduled to determine whether the claimant was barred from proceeding with her application to the LAT pursuant to section 55 of the SABS for failure to submit an OCF-1 in accordance with section 32. The insurer filed the motion after the claimant refused to attend a post-case conference examination under oath. The insurer requested: (a) an order compelling the claimant to attend the EUO, (b) an order requiring an adverse inference be drawn at the preliminary issue hearing if the claimant did not attend the EUO, and (c) an order imposing a suspension of benefits for failure to comply with section 33(2) of the SABS. Adjudicator Mazerolle ordered that the claimant was not entitled to any payment of benefits under the SABS from the date she failed to attend the EUO onwards (or until such date that she attended an EUO). Adjudicator Mazerolle found that the LAT does not have the authority to order a claimant to attend an EUO. It was left to the hearing adjudicator to determine whether an adverse inference would be made for failure to attend the EUO. Adjudicator Mazerolle found that an EUO can touch on any topic an insurer chooses, so long as the topics are matters that are relevant to the claimant’s entitlement to benefits.
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