December 3, 2012- Deadlines and limitations periods have always been a concern for injury claimant’s contacting my law firm. As a personal injury lawyer in British Columbia since 1995 I have dealt with hundreds of injury claims against the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) all of which involve multiple important deadlines and limitation periods. Cases are always time sensitive and each claim may have it’s own deadline.
ICBC is authorized to provide various types of insurance which include Accident Injury Benefits, Third Party Liability Coverage, and Hit and Run Coverage. The deadlines for your injury claim depend on what type of ICBC claim you are making. Here are three of the top ICBC claims that result from a car accident :
1. The claim against the at fault driver- If you are able to prove that the car accident was the fault of another BC driver then they will usually be insured with ICBC. However if they are underinsured or uninsured a different ICBC claim may have to be made. The deadline for the claim against the at fault driver is typically two years from the date of the injury, with exceptions.
2. The ICBC no-fault claim- If your car is insured with ICBC you should be entitled to no-fault accident benefits if you’ve been injured on a road in BC. I have written extensively on the topic of ICBC accident benefits. The no-fault injury claims have complicated deadlines and you should consult a lawyer or file a written report with ICBC within 30 days of the car accident, unless there is no prejudice to ICBC.
3. The Bad faith Claim- Punitive damages may be awarded in situations where the misconduct of the insurance company is so malicious, oppressive and high-handed that it offends the court’s sense of decency. Punitive damages bear no relation to what the injury claimant should receive by way of compensation. The aim is not to compensate the claimant, but rather to punish the insurance company. It is the means by which the jury or judge expresses its outrage at the egregious conduct of the insurance company. The deadline for these claims are dependant in part on when the misconduct of the insurance company occurred. Lawyers that work for ICBC may not be able to make these claims due to their agreement not to sue ICBC for bad faith.
Find a personal injury lawyer that will agree to meet with an injury claimant for a free legal consultation, this should avoid having to worry about important deadlines in your personal injury case. posted by Mr. Renn A. Holness
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