The insurer sought to rely on section 38(2) of the Schedule as a defence, asserting that the claimant incurred the expense of an assessment in dispute prior to submitting the OCF-18 to the insurer for approval. The claimant brought a motion for a declaration precluding the insurer from relying on the defence for a number of reasons: the insurer accepted the OCF-18 and scheduled IEs to assess its reasonableness and necessity; section 38 requires “all other reasons” to be provided in the denial; the denial of the OCF-18 was only based on the MIG; the issue was not raised by the insurer at FSCO before the matter was transferred to the LAT, in its response, at the case conference, or at any other time prior to written submissions being filed. Adjudicator Daoud denied the claimant’s motion, finding that a defence may be raised at any time within the proceeding as long as there is no prejudice caused to the claimant and the claimant has the opportunity to respond to it.
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