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
The last game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Hockey series was broadcast on a live television outside the CBC building at Georgia and Hamilton Streets in Vancouver BC. When the game ended, a riot erupted here and several cars were burned outside the adjacent Canada Post Office building. Numerous vehicles were destroyed here, some of which…
The factors to be considered when valuing a personal injury claim with ICBC or other insurance companies will change according to the stage of your case. Some of the factors that may be important early on, such as claim reporting and notification, will give way to symptom documentation and medical diagnosis. Beware of the ICBC…
The personal injury claimant was driving his Porsche Cayenne and entered the intersection of 203rd Street and Logan Avenue in Langley, BC on a yellow light. Another driver turning left failed to see the claimant and turned in front of him causing the accident. A witness videotaped the entire car accident and forwarded the recording to the investigating RCMP…
Injuries caused by fire can often be prevented by the use of fire alarms, commonsense. However, the Court of Appeal does not accept this as commonsense, and dismissed this renter’s injury appeal on the basis that there was no evidence that the use of a fire alarm would have reduced or eliminated the harm. In this injury…
Astonishing new communication rule from our Court of Appeal will effect all personal injury cases in the Province: When parties agree to the use of email as a form of communication, once delivered to the email inbox of the other lawyer, the delivering party now has a “legitimate expectation that the email would be read”. (Great…
Innocent car accident victims must now face the prospect of a court ordered medical examination conducted by doctors that are potentially unfair, impartial, not credible and not objective. In a stunning Masters decision of the Supreme Court requiring an ICBC claimant to attend a medical exam, the Master stated, “Questions of fairness, partiality, credibility, and…
There are 2 types of payments ICBC is required make for lost wages: One for Temporary Total Disability Benefits (TTD); and the other for your actual wage-loss. Disability payment are made when, (a) a claimant is insured; (b) has proof of inability to work for more than 7 days in the first 21 days; and (c)…
This case affirms, despite what ICBC says to claimants without lawyers, an award for loss of future earning capacity is available in soft tissue injury cases in which claimants have suffered little or no loss of income: Hu v. Tan,2016 BCSC 908. The Supreme Court was convinced this personal injury claimant would not have considered retiring early had it not…
Age is a factor for compensation for older and retired adults after a motor vehicle injury and is considered in today’s personal injury case: Bardua v. Han, 2016 BCSC 861. As it relates to compensation for pain and suffering for retired individuals Judge Griffin famously stated: [88] The retirement years are special years for they are at a time…
The Court of Appeal has done away with any legal basis for ICBC’s policy of denying disability benefits when total disability arises beyond the first 104 weeks of a car accident(Symons v. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia,2016 BCCA 207 ). Long term disability benefits for personal injury claims must now be paid for future periods of…