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Plaintiff Entitled to Reasonable Accomodation When Scheduling Defence Medical Exams

Written by admin on . Posted in BCSC Civil Rule 7, independent medical exams, Uncategorized.

While the BC Supreme Court Rules give defendants in personal injury lawsuits the power to, in appropriate circumstances, force a plaintiff to attend an ‘independent’ medical exam, a plaintiff is entitled to reasonable accommodation with respect to the scheduling of these.  Reasons for judgement were recently released by the BC Supreme Court, New Westminster Registry, demonstrating this point.
In the recent case (Welder v. Johnston) the plaintiff sustained injuries in a motor vehicle collision.  In the course of the lawsuit the Defendant sought to have the plaintiff examined by a vocational specialist to address the wage loss aspects of the plaintiff’s claim. The plaintiff agreed to be assessed by the Defendant’s expert but the date selected conflicted with a family reunion the plaintiff planned on attending.  The defendant brought an application to force the date but this was dismissed with the court finding a plaintiff is entitled to reasonable accommodation.  In dismissing the application the Court provided the following comments to defence counsel:

I’m not prepared to order the plaintiff to attend on a date when a family celebration and family reunion has been scheduled since January. I don’t think that being a plaintiff in an action you give up all rights to manage your own schedule, and I think it’s unfortunate that there was an error in your office and the information about his unavailability didn’t come to your attention sooner, but the reality is that based on the affidavit from Mr. Welder, he has a commitment that he’s made since January to be out and unavailable during the period in which this has been scheduled, and I am not prepared to make an order for him to attend in the middle of that period of the family reunion.
The reasons for judgement are not publicly available but, as always, I’m happy to provide a copy to anyone who contacts me and requests one.

bc injury law, independent medical exams, Master McNaughton, Rule 7, Rule 7-6, Rule 7-6(1), Welder v. Johnston

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