The Ontario Court of Appeal has reversed the decision of Kusnierz v. Economcial Insurance.

In the Kusnierz v. Economical Insurance decision, Justice Lauwers had determined that it was not permissible to assign percentage ratings in respect of psychological impairments under 2 (1.1)(g) of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) and combine them with percentage ratings in respect of Kusnierz’s physical impairments under Clause 2(1.1)(f) of the SABS for the purposes of determining whether an individual was catastrophically impaired.

Justice Lawers reviewed the earlier decision of Justice Spiegel in Desbiens v. Mordini but respectfully came to a different conclusion.  Justice Lauwers did not review any of the FSCO decisions on the issue.

This means that both physical and psychological impairment percentage ratings can be combined when determining a catastrophic impairment.