https://www5.fsco.gov.on.ca/AD/4977
The insurer submitted that the applicant knew or ought to have known that benefits were available to him. On that basis, it is suggested, the delay in claiming them was unreasonable. I am not persuaded that that was the case here. In my opinion, the applicant suffers from an intellectual and emotional incapacity which he credibly testified was caused by the accident of May 2, 2008. The legislation and the Scheduleare remedial in nature. The applicant cannot be denied an opportunity to prove his case simply because, in the nature of his condition, he was unable to function at a level that would have allowed him to comply strictly with the Schedule or to obtain meaningful assistance, at an early date, to help him do so.
In that regard, I was satisfied from the credible testimony of the applicant that the neurologist to whom he was first referred for diagnosis and care was dilatory, evasive and unforthcoming in dealing with the applicant’s injuries and that the applicant’s reliance upon that individual resulted in delay in filing an accident benefits claim for which the applicant should not be held strictly accountable.
I accordingly find that the applicant has provided a satisfactory explanation for his delay in filing and that he was not precluded from filing a claim for mediation by virtue of such delay.