Liao v. Aviva General Insurance (19-004856)

The claimant applied to the LAT seeking entitlement to IRBs and a treatment plan proposing chiropractic treatment. The claimant submitted that she attempted to return to work after the April 2016 accident but ceased working in August 2016 due to accident-related impairments. The insurer argued that the claimant was not entitled to IRBs because she did not comply with requests for documents to complete her IRB application and calculation until November 2019, and therefore she was not entitled to IRBs prior to November 2019. Alternatively, the insurer argued that the claimant had not shown that she satisfied the test for pre- or post-104 IRBs. Adjudicator Chakravarti found that the insurer provided proper (although late) s. 33 requests in December 2016 following receipt of the OCF-3 and the insurer was able to rely on the s. 33(6) consequences for the claimant’s non-compliance with s. 33 requests. The claimant did not produce requested income information until January 2018 and did not produce the requested OCF-2 until November 2019. Adjudicator Chakravarti found that the claimant did not provide a reasonable explanation for the delay in providing the requested documentation and the insurer was entitled to withhold payment of IRBs for the period of non-compliance. Adjudicator Chakravarti found that the insurer’s s. 33 request was made more than 10 days after receipt of the OCF-3 (contrary to the requirements in s. 36(4)) and IRBs would therefore be payable for the period from receipt of the OCF-3 until the s. 33 request was made if the claimant met the substantial inability test for pre-104 week IRBs during this period. Adjudicator Chakravarti found that the claimant failed to prove that she met the test for pre- or post-104 IRBs and was not entitled to IRBs for any period before the s. 33 requests were made or after the s. 33 requests were complied with. The claimant also failed to meet her onus of demonstrating that the proposed chiropractic treatment was reasonable and necessary. The application was dismissed in its entirety.