No ICBC claimant in British Columbia needs talk to ICBC without first talking to a personal injury lawyer. In my personal injury law firm you will not have to pay our injury lawyers for the initial telephone consultation and you can ask for a free face-to-face legal consultation.
The first step in making and ICBC claim is to call and talk to a lawyer, it will be the best decision you’ll makein your injury claim.
I have discussed ICBC Injury claims generally so I’ll focus on the accuracy of your report to the insurance company. Most insurance policies and ICBC accident benefit applications require you to provide a written report. If you do not have a lawyer these written reports may end up taking the form of a signed statement that can be used against you later in the litigation. If you forgot to include some of your complaints on a claim form, or accidentally omit something, it can negatively effect your credibility which could result in your claim being denied. When giving a written report keep these tips in mind:
- Avoid ambiguous language– When a sentence has two different meanings the insurance company will always interpret it against you. An example of an ambiguous sentence would be, “the man hit a lady with a bicycle” ( Is the man using a bicycle to hit the lady, or is he hitting a lady that is with a bicycle?)
- Avoid vague language– This can get you into trouble when explaining any prior conditions you may have or how the accident occurred. For example, “I did not really have back pain before the accident” or “I was driving around the speed limit”.
- Do not guess– Probably the worse thing you can do is to accidentally say sometime that is wrong. ICBC or other insurance companies may choose to take the position that you were intentionally misleading the insurance company.
Expressing the truth is a requirement- You can ruin your ICBC case when your words are misinterpreted. An experienced personal injury lawyer will help ensure your language accurately reflects the truth.
Posted by ICBC Personal Injury Lawyer Mr. Renn A. Holness, B.A., LL.B.