Court Rejects ICBC’s Application to Assess Our Client By ICBC Doctor

Our recent success in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against ICBC 

Mussio Goodman is pleased to announce our recent success in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, in which we defended our client’s interests by preventing a medical assessment (IME) by an orthopedic surgeon chosen by ICBC.

IMEs are often obtained by both the claimant and ICBC during the litigation process, the purpose of which is to have independent doctors provide the parties, and ultimately the Court, with an impartial expert opinion on the claimant’s injuries. The law is clear with regards to IMEs; the Plaintiff must attend these appointments so long as they are reasonable and fair.

In this recent case, our client was in a motor vehicle accident where she suffered a number of injuries including a concussion, traumatic brain injury, and a number of soft tissue injuries. At this point of the claim, our client had already consented to an IME with a neurologist selected by ICBC.

Interestingly, ICBC instructed the neurologist to provide a fulsome report of our client’s injuries, not restricting him to opinions of a neurological nature. The ICBC doctor commented extensively on our client’s soft tissue injuries, providing views that went well beyond his expertise as a neurologist. We stood firm in our position that a subsequent IME was inappropriate as ICBC had already received a fulsome report of our client’s injuries. As a result, ICBC applied for a court order to compel our client to attend.

We argued that the second IME was unnecessary to put the parties on an equal playing field. We further argued that ICBC was simply looking to bolster the weaknesses of the previous report from the neurologist. They were in essence ‘doctor shopping’ for a more favourable opinion.

Madam Justice MacNaughton of the Supreme Court of British Columbia agreed with our submissions and dismissed ICBC’s application with costs.