An award for personal injury losses requires a trial judge, orally or in writing, to provide adequate reasons justifying the award. However this was not done in the following case, illustrating the real prejudice inadequate reasons can pose to innocent personal injury claimants. The injury claimant, riding as a front seat passenger had her feet hanging…
This Car accident brain injury award for an 18 year old passenger (Hermanson v. Durkee, 2014 BCSC 877) arose from a single vehicle accident on a forest road in British Columbia. The vehicle left the road which resulting in the ICBC claimant suffering a severe traumatic brain injury and ruptured spleen. Because of the location of the motor vehicle accident there…
Finally Found! We have been receiving online ICBC claims information and reporting ICBC claims since 1999 for our personal injury clients. As a legal advocate for the injured I began reporting ICBC claims in 1995, before any online reporting systems existed. Unbelievably very little has changed in the ICBC reporting requirements since the regulations were…
Personal injury lawyers in British Columbia are often faced with having to attend one or more Case Planning Conferences (“CPC”) at the request of ICBC or other defendants in the normal course of litigation. These closed court CPC’s have a status of their own and, as recently revealed, are under veil of secrecy. The court…
No adverse inference was drawn by the judge after the claimant failed to have his family doctor testify at the personal injury trial. (Fabretti v. Gill,2014 BCSC 899). This ICBC injury case involved a car accident that occurred on the Pattullo Bridge in New Westminster. The claimant was only 12 years old at the time. He…
This car accident personal injury claimant was awarded the cost of a private MRI as a reasonable disbursement (Gray v. Kohnert,2014 BCSC 888). This is great news for BC injury claimants but does have a few personal injury lawyers scratching their heads. Just weeks before this decision the Court refused the costs of a private…
This successful personal injury claimant was awarded double costs of all steps taken in the lawsuit following an offer to settle he made in the week before the trial (Ostrikoff v. Oliveira,2014 BCSC 842). In ICBC personal injury cases additional costs can be awarded to a party if they beat a reasonable offer made before the…
The law creating the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, essentially prohibits an owner, driver or passenger from entering into a contract to exclude liability while in use and operation of a motor vehicle. The majority of our Court of Appeal have determined that such a waiver or release is contrary to the nature of…
The settlement of personal injury cases in Canada just got more complex. The Supreme Court of Canada has eked out a new place for mediation contracts, in our legal arsenal of settlement tools, that contain absolute confidentiality clauses preventing parties from proving the terms of a settlement (Union Carbide Canada Inc. v. Bombardier Inc., 2014 SCC 35).…
The best news in 33 years for ICBC claims and personal injury cases involving claims for future loss of earnings and costs of future care! The decrease in the discount rate for future loss announced April 30, 2014 means claimants can expect more money for awards and settlements for future losses. This better reflects the decrease in…
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