A barber's push for income replacement benefits and physiotherapy coverage came up empty at Ontario's Licence Appeal Tribunal, which also turned down Pembridge's costs bid.

The applicant, hurt in an October 19, 2020 car accident, wanted $400 a week in benefits starting February 3, 2023, plus coverage for two physiotherapy treatment plans worth $8,952.64 combined. Pembridge Insurance Company had already denied both, so he brought the dispute to adjudicators Aric Bhargava and Timothy Porter.

By this stage of a claim, the bar is high: an applicant has to show a complete inability to work at any job suited to their education, training or experience. The tribunal found he didn't clear it.

He testified he still couldn't work, pointing to two disability certificates and his own account of ongoing pain. Pembridge pushed back, noting he had returned to work in September 2021 and picked up a second job at another salon. The tribunal zeroed in on his own testimony: he needed more frequent breaks and shorter hours, but by his own account, he was not entirely unable to work.

The disability certificates carried little weight either. Both were filed more than four years after the accident, skipped over his actual job duties, and clashed with his testimony and the contemporaneous evidence. He also had not offered any vocational evidence or pinned down his income well enough for the tribunal to calculate a loss.

The physiotherapy claims ran into a similar problem. To get a treatment plan covered, an applicant has to show it is reasonable and necessary - and the tribunal said claim forms alone are not enough without backup from a treating doctor. Insurer examination reports on file found his injuries had already resolved. With no benefits owing, the tribunal found no interest was payable either.

Pembridge had its own ask on the table too: $1,000 in costs, arguing the applicant had acted unreasonably and in bad faith by skipping a case conference and ignoring tribunal requests. The tribunal disagreed, finding his conduct had not derailed a fair, efficient process and fell well short of the bar costs require. The panel added it stayed wary of a costs award having "a chilling effect on the ability of applicants to pursue their claims."

The tribunal dismissed the application entirely, releasing its decision September 11, 2026.

The ruling leaves late-filed disability certificates and treatment claims without independent medical backup carrying little weight, even when an applicant's own testimony supports them. And missing a conference or two will not automatically hand an insurer a costs award either.