A B.C. man who claimed $1 million in damages after a car accident interrupted his sex life has had his case dismissed by a tribunal after it was discovered he had requested Viagra from a doctor a year before the incident.
According to the decision, handed down by the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal Oct. 29, a man identified as J.U. missed work due to injuries from a 2021 motor vehicle accident.
ICBC paid him $1,794.07 in income replacement benefits. But the man claimed the insurance corporation failed to pay him benefits for the first 10 days after his accident. He claimed an additional $3,352.60.
J.U. also claimed his sex life was ruined by his accident-related injuries, a condition that entitled him to $1 million in permanent impairment compensation.
The man claimed that because of his chronic back pain he was unable to have a sexual relationship with his wife, and it has affected his self-esteem. He said he was seeing a registered psychologist to deal with his sexual dysfunction.
ICBC contested those claims, saying it properly determined the man's income and benefits entitlement based on the Insurance (Vehicle) Act and associated regulations. The corporation said it paid J.U. the amount to which he was entitled and that he had failed to prove the sex life claim.
Man was using Viagra before accident
In her decision, tribunal member Sarah Orr found J.U. did not explain how he arrived at the $1 million claim amount. She also said J.U. failed to prove that any sexual dysfunction was caused by the accident.
Clinical records submitted as evidence showed the man had requested Viagra from his doctor more than a year before the accident in July 2020, and that he had mentioned episodes of erectile dysfunction in September of 2020.
Orr said records showed J.U.’s doctor diagnosed him as having chronic neck and back pain from an unrelated 2016 accident, and that that was what triggered his sexual dysfunction.
She said there was also a March 22, 2023, note in the psychologist’s clinical records indicating that J.U.’s doctor had prescribed medicine for sexual dysfunction.
Orr found the man provided "no documentary evidence to support his claim" and failed to establish he was entitled to further benefits.
She dismissed the case.
