Astonishing Invasion of Personal Privacy Ordered in Injury Case

Our clients were injured in an automobile accident in which their car was t-boned.  The defendants served a set of intrusive questions known as Interrogatories, which sought a great deal of information as to the clients’ personal medical and financial lives.  The questions sought information such as a description of every complaint the clients expressed to any healthcare provider in the three years before the accident, and whether they had filed tax returns in the three years before the accident.

On the strength of the fact that the Statement of Claim filed in court alleged “personal injuries” and that the clients had suffered “pain and suffering and loss of amenities”, the judge thought the information “relevant” and ordered all these questions to be answered under oath, including the questions which pertained to pre-accident information. 

One of the ironies of the decision is that one of our clients has already presented his personal injury demand for damages, and he has not made a claim for any financial loss.  Yet the court has ordered him to produce a great deal of confidential financial information!

According to this ruling, just saying that you have suffered a personal injury puts your pre-accident financial and medical history in the hands of the defendant, with no more onus on the defendant to show relevance than that.  The Interrogatories sought information for the three years before the accident, but why would it stop there?  Why not five years?  Why not ten?  This is contrary to the law and practice that I have worked with in personal injury cases for decades, and as readers can guess, an appeal is under consideration.