Renn A. Holness is a gifted lawyer and author to over 1000 legal blog articles. Married father of two daughters, son of a neurosurgeon and founder of Holness and Small Law Group

Lawyer to Negotiate Settlement with ICBC

Negotiating for settlement or for injury benefits after a car accident can be daunting if you have never had a personal injury claim before. Even the most seasoned lawyers will refer ICBC claimants to an experienced personal injury lawyer if this is not their field. These experienced personal injury lawyers are worth their weight in gold and…

ICBC Injury Claimant Awarded Costs Despite Dismissal of Claim

In a stunning act of judicial deference this keen use of the broad discretion to award costs has allowed a personal injury claimant to recovery the legal costs of a claim despite dismissal of the action. The claimant was involved in two car accidents about 3 years apart. In the first accident the defendant admitting fault and the…

Test for Mental Injury the Same in Contract as Tort

  Personal injury lawyers should know this wrongful dismissal contract case, as the employer successfully appealed a $30,000 mental distress award for aggravated damages. The Court of Appeal found there was no evidentiary foundation for a mental injury award for aggravated damages  despite the Supreme Court Case Saadati (Lau v. Royal Bank of Canada,2017 BCCA 253).  In…

Suing for Assault does not Require Touching

Suing for civil assault in BC is different than claiming battery or negligence. As Judge Fleming states in the recent case of Akintoye v. White, 2017 BCSC 1094: [94]   Despite its name, the tort of assault involves the intentional creation of the apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive conduct but no actual touching. A battery occurs whenever…

No Expert Opinion Needed to Strike Jury

A jury trial is a presumptive right in a personal injury action. This car accident injury occurred on Salt Spring Island when another vehicle, travelling in the opposite direction, turned left and into the path of the claimant’s vehicle. Given the complicated mental injury claim and other legal issues the claimant applied, unsuccessfully, to have the jury struck.…

Defining Mental Injury in Personal Injury Claims

Mental injury has also been referred to by courts as psychological injury, psychiatric injury, emotional trauma, nervous shock, hysteria, mental distress, and a host of medical terms such as conversion disorder, somatic system disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression. The Supreme Court of Canada in Saadati has synthesized all these terms down to…

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority 70% at Fault for Negligence

This Court of Appeal case displays the behaviour of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, nurses and doctors in British Columbia when it come to defending against medically negligent mistakes. This appeals arose out of a medical negligence action in which a nurse and doctor were found to be negligent at the emergency department of Powell River General Hospital.…

Surrey Residents Searching for Personal Injury Lawyer

Living in Surrey has its advantages although after a car accident personal injury lawyers must file suit in another city such as Vancouver. Surrey has an ICBC claim centre, convenient after a car accident, but does not currently have a Supreme Court Registry. The Vancouver Court building houses the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Registries. Here is…