The role of insurance is to shield policyholders against financial loss. There are many types of insurance. Automotive insurance helps cover the expenses suffered by victims of a car accident. Homeowners insurance covers and compensates the claimant for the belongings lost in floods or fire. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board provides compensation to people who suffer injuries in provincially regulated workplaces.
It’s important to understand that most insurance companies do not have the policyholders’ interests at heart. Most insurers, including those who provide auto insurance covers, are often driven by a desire to make profits. At Grillo Law, our experienced car accident lawyers possess firsthand knowledge of the lengths that many automotive insurance companies go to avoid compensating accident victims.
Even seemingly, reliable organizations like Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) use tricky ways to avoid paying the rightful compensation to policyholders. In February 2021, Go Public spoke to a Toronto claimant who had been frustrated while seeking compensation from WSIB. CBC News’s Go Public representatives followed the lady’s story. Alicia Micallef had suffered a concussion while working at a retail store in 2015.
After seeking compensation through WSIB, the compensation was not forthcoming. Instead, the organization had the woman followed by private investigators. The investigators recorded her every move to prove that she was lying about her injuries. According to Alicia Micallef, the investigators went to the extent of visiting her at her apartment building, which was terrifying. The investigators stood at her door as they listened to her interaction with her cat.
Through the video they obtained, WSIB claimed that Micallef had lied about her injuries. They reduced her benefits and even demanded that she should refund the income replacement that WSIB had provided. When Micallef refused to do as instructed by WSIB, she faced two counts of filing false claims according to Ontario’s Workplace Safely and Insurance Act.
Video Surveillance is a Harsh Tactic
Compensation boards and public insurers are not alone in recording and surveying claimants. However, different rules govern public insurers and private insurers. Private insurers must abide by specific rules of the federal Personal Information Protection and Electric Documents Act. Before a private insurer starts videotaping a claimant secretly, they must have solid evidence of fraud and not just suspicions. Provisional privacy laws, which govern public insurers and compensation boards, do not address surveillance by insurers.
Most lawyers agree that video surveillance, a common tactic among insurers, is a harsh tactic that further frustrates policyholders who are already suffering. Obtaining evidence through video surveillance instills fear in the injured persons. Most people are intimidated by video surveillance to the extent of abandoning their claim. If a claimant abandons a claim, it will be an advantage to the workers’ compensation board or the insurance company. According to the CBC’s story on Micallef, the WSIB is yet to compensate her. Ontario court of justice acquitted Micallef of the charges in 2018.
Contact a Reliable Insurance Dispute Lawyer
Most insurance companies make a profit by ensuring that they receive more money in premiums than what they pay out in benefits. At Grillo Law, our experienced lawyers understand all the tactics that insurance companies use to deny claimants their rightful compensation. Our lawyers will do everything possible to help clients get the accident benefits they deserve. Contact us today for reliable legal counsel.