Canada Case Law

Toyoda v. Jensen

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Given the treating neurologist's documented opinion that in‑person travel would pose a substantial risk of exacerbating the plaintiff's traumatic brain injury and the fact that the plaintiff's own experts' IMEs have been and will be virtual, the court orders the defendants' requested IMEs to proceed virtually; concerns about expert methodology and interpreter requirements do not outweigh the demonstrated health risks and the need to maintain parity between the parties.

Source excerpt

• Independent medical examination
• Virtual examination
• Fitness to travel
• Expert methodology
• Level playing field
• Costs

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Jimmie v. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed most of a defence application for a neuropsychological IME and brain MRI, finding the defendant had not shown the steps were necessary.

• Independent medical examination
• Rule 7-6 bc supreme court civil rules
• Expert evidence
• Admissibility
• Costs
• Independent-medical-examination

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Bajwa v. Y&Y Enterprises Ltd.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court granted an application to exclude disbursements for three proposed expert reports under the Regulation, finding a reasonable risk of exceeding the cap and undue hardship.

• Expert disbursements
• Disbursement cap
• Undue hardship
• Independent medical examination
• Expert-disbursements
• Disbursement-cap

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Lee v. Khan

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court ordered the plaintiff to attend a vocational assessment, finding it relevant to future earning capacity and fair trial preparation under Rule 7-6.

• Vocational assessment
• Independent medical examination
• Future earning capacity
• Costs
• Vocational-assessment
• Future-earning-capacity

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Dick v. Grover

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Application dismissed: the defendants were not entitled to a second IME. The court held Dr. Chapman’s use of “query” did not show an inability to opine.

• Independent medical examination
• Expert opinion sufficiency
• Clarification of expert reports
• Costs
• Independent-medical-examination
• Expert-evidence

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Zhang v. Srott

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court granted a defence application under Rule 7-6 for a vocational assessment, finding the proposed evidence necessary and proportionate despite some overlap with prior experts.

• Independent medical examination
• Rule 7-6
• Vocational assessment
• Necessity test
• Overlap and duplication
• Proportionality

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Miolla v. Schouten

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court granted a defence application for an occupational therapy functional capacity evaluation, finding it would answer questions not covered by the prior IME.

• Independent medical examination
• Functional capacity evaluation
• Necessity test for ime
• Proportionality
• Costs
• Independent-medical-examination

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K.A.R. v. Dawson

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court ordered psychiatric and neurological IMEs, dismissed a request for the expert’s engagement agreement, and required production of cited reference materials.

• Independent medical examination
• Expert disclosure and production
• Causation
• Expert impartiality/engagement agreements
• Costs
• Publication ban

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MacKenzie v. Vanderwal

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed a defence application for additional FCE and C-FCE examinations, finding they were not necessary and would amount to impermissible bolstering.

• Independent medical examination
• Functional capacity evaluation
• Cognitive functional capacity evaluation
• Proportionality in discovery
• Bolstering expert evidence
• Independent-medical-examination

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McEvoy v. Grohme

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court ordered conduct money for defence IMEs, including taxi travel, one night’s hotel accommodation, and meals, and ordered each party to bear their own costs.

• Independent medical examination
• Conduct money
• Convenience (rule 7-6)
• Costs
• Independent-medical-examination
• Conduct-money

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