FSCO rejects insurer’s motion to obtain academic course records of injured woman’s daughter/caregiver

A Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) arbitrator has rejected the motion of an insurer to obtain a copy of the academic course record of the daughter of a woman injured in an auto accident.

The insurer in the matter, Security National, argued the course schedule of the daughter, who attended the University of Toronto between 2008 and 2010, was necessary to confirm whether or not the daughter was a full-time or part-time student. This information would then shed light on whether or not the daughter provided housekeeping and caregiving services to her mother as claimed.

Mary Anothonipillai was injured in an auto accident on Apr. 21, 2008 and applied for statutory accident benefits. Security National disputed the amount she claimed for housekeeping and caregiving expenses, contending the costs were too high.

Security National attempted through correspondence with Anthonipillai’s daughter, Sharel George, to establish George’s status as a student, so it could assess the amount of time she may have taken away from school to provide care for her mother.

George did not supply the information to Security National, which then brought a motion asking FSCO to compel George to provide her academic course schedule during the period at issue (between 2008 and 2010).

FSCO did not allow the motion, questioning the relevance and the probative value of the documents.

“I am not persuaded that the records are so relevant that their non-disclosure now would prejudice a just and fair hearing so that I should therefore set aside privacy concerns around documents that contain information personal to a third party [George] but none about a party to this proceeding [Anthonipillai],” FSCO arbitrator Jessica Kowalski wrote in her decision. “Nor am I persuaded that the academic schedule is as probative as Security National asserts. That schedule will not disclose how often, or even whether, Ms. George attended her classes.”