The insurer brought a preliminary issue motion to bar the claimant’s claim for non-attendance at IEs. Although he had attended the IE clinic at the appropriate time, he had become aggressive and refused to proceed until the clinic agreed to use the consent form he had personally prepared. At the motion hearing, the claimant argued that s. 44 provided him the right to require his IE assessors to have expertise in Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy (the treatment modality that was being proposed in the disputed treatment plans that had triggered the IE). He also submitted that s. 44 required an assessment to be “reasonably necessary”, which included providing information regarding the medical specialization of the assessors. Adjudicator Flude rejected the claimant’s position and stated that the terms “reasonably necessary” in s. 44(1) were written to prevent insurers from attempting to wear out a claimant by requiring them to attend multiple IEs for the same matter. Adjudicator Flude noted that the claimant had unsuccessfully raised the same argument before the LAT regarding s. 44 and his IE assessors’ expertise on a previous occasion. He noted that the claimant’s reassertion of the same argument appeared to be an abuse of process. He found that the claimant had not identified the elements of his IE clinic’s consent form that were problematic, and as a result, that it appeared to be an excuse to refuse to attend IE assessments. Adjudicator Flude held that the claimant was barred from proceeding under s. 55(1), and that the circumstances did not warrant an exercise of the LAT’s discretion under s. 55(2) and (3).
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