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
In this personal injury case involving two motor accidents occurring 6 months apart(Wang v. Dhaliwal,2014 BCSC 1662) the court awarded two set of legal costs totaling $13,000 in addition to the $59,000 out of court settlement. In British Columbia money you get for legal costs as a successful litigation are awarded to to help off-set the actual…
When it comes to dog owner responsibilities and legal liability in British Columbia owners need to know that it is a strict liability test if your dog injuries a person. That means the injury claimant does not have to show that your dog has actually caused the injury; what is required is to show that…
Being a personal injury lawyer in Vancouver since 1995 gives me the benefit of some experiential knowledge when it comes to what ICBC says publicly about bodily injury claims and how they behave in private litigation. The recent attempt of ICBC to obtain an insurance rate increase is the latest example of a government corporation…
If an offer to settle is not accepted within a reasonable amount of time double costs, being a punitive award, can be awarded to the successful claimant if that offer is beaten at trial. This principle applies to almost all personal injury cases including the ones in which a claimant has beat an offer to…
Awards for pain and suffering are not calculated but rather assessed. In British Columbia personal injury lawyers provide Judges with a range of reasonable awards based on caselaw precedent. The claimant in this chronic headache, neck, shoulder and low back pain case (Forder v. Linde,2014 BCSC 1600) was injured in a car accident when she…
This personal injury claimant beat her offer of settlement made 7 days before trial. As a result the Judge awarded the claimant double costs. The claimant was involved in a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Lougheed Highway and Pinetree Way in Coquitlam, B.C. in which the claimant suffered mild to moderate soft tissue injuries and…
In this personal injury car accident case ICBC applied for an award of its costs or, alternatively, to deprive the claimant of their costs. ICBC offered to settle for $50,000.00 with the husband and $150,000.00 for the wife. After more than two weeks at trial the Judge awarded the wife $75,000.00 and the husband $189,000.00. (Liu…
Over $75,000.00 was added to this personal injury award on account of the Increased discount rates! (McLeod v. Goodman,2014 BCSC 1551), Future loss of earnings and costs of future care in ICBC injury claims now have to be increased to more accurately reflect the claimants real losses. As a result of changes to the discount…
This motor vehicle accident personal injury case required the Supreme Court to put a value on the pain and suffering for an eight year old boy with severe facial scarring and soft tissue injury. Tragically, his mother and his twin brother were killed, and his significant facial scarring had required him to endure numerous uncomfortable surgeries…
ICBC injury claims can often involve valuing pain and suffering for children and teenagers. This personal injury claimant was a 9 years old passenger in the front seat of her mother’s minivan when another vehicle failed to yield the right of way and collided with her right front bumper(Toopitsin v. McMullen,2014 BCSC 1486). She claims…
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