The claimant alleged that he was the back-seat passenger in a car involved in a rear-end accident. The insurer believed the incident was staged, based on an accident reconstruction report. Adjudicator Neilson held that the claimant failed to prove that he was involved in an accident. Relying on the accident reconstruction report and the “black box” data, Adjudicator Neilson found that the damage to the involved vehicles did not match the reported data. Additionally, the claimant’s reporting regarding the facts of loss was not supported by the “black box” data, or the damage to the vehicles. Furthermore, the claimant’s medical records did not support the injuries alleged by the claimant. Adjudicator Neilson wrote that staging an accident did not meet the purpose or causation test, and the claimant was therefore not entitled to accident benefits. The claimant was also found to have made material misrepresentations with respect to material facts. The claimant was ordered to repay $1,442 in medical benefits paid to a clinic as a result of the material misrepresentation.
