The claimant was five years of age and was a back seat passenger in a car being driven by his uncle. Their car was in the midst of making a left turn in the intersection of 49Th Avenue and Knight Street in the City of Vancouver when it was hit by another car going southbound . This case involved issues of brain injury resulting from the car accident.
The personal injury case settled with ICBC for the sum of $900,000(Chandi v. Atwell, 2011 BCSC 1498) plus taxable costs and disbursements just one month before the trial. The injury claimant appeared at court to have his costs assessed. The amount sought to be recovered for his obligation to pay interest that were incurred on his behalf amounts to $25,668.92. The claimant’s personal injury law firm arranged to finance the required case expenses through a private lender who charged 12% interest compounded annually. In refusing to fully compensation the claimant for the costs of borrowing the court pointed out at paragraph 73,
While the current state of the law mandates that I make some allowance for the interest expense in my view I am not bound to award full indemnity for the amount of interest charged to the Plaintiff. I am not bound by Basi v. Atwal and with the greatest of respect I decline to follow it.
District Registrar Cameron awarded a much lower amount in interest which was interest based upon Registrar’s rates with the calculation of the total amount to be akin to the calculation of interest payable on special damages pursuant to the relevant provisions of Court Order Interest Act.
Posted by Mr. Renn A. Holness