Court Denies Insurance Company’s Attempted “Fishing Expedition”

Advancing a claim for injuries and lost wages requires a claimant to disclose relevant medical and employment records. However, the insurer should not be entitled to a “fishing expedition” by gaining access to a claimant’s entire medical and employment history with the hopes of finding something they can later argue is relevant.

As a firm representing the interests of injured claimants, we strive to ensure that the insurer is held to this standard.

In our recent case Stephens v Gill, the insurer applied to the Court for an order compelling our client to produce extensive medical, employment and WCB records, some dating as far back as 16 years prior to the accident.

We argued that such a broad disclosure was not relevant to the claim and unfairly invaded the privacy of our client.

On the day of the hearing, the insurer abandoned many of their record requests, and limited most of the others to what we had already agreed to disclose.

Regarding most of the remaining records in contention, the Court agreed with our position, finding that much of records the insurer sought were disproportionate and overbroad.

This ruling underscores the benefit of hiring a lawyer to protect both your rights and your privacy over the course of your injury claim.