Jones v. Ma, 2010 BCSC 1125
August 11, 2010- The motor vehicle accident that is the subject of this personal injury claim occurred on Clarke Street in Port Moody, British Columbia. At that location, Clarke Street has two westbound lanes of traffic separated from the single eastbound lane by a double solid yellow line. Just prior to the accident, the injury claimant,was driving in the left-most westbound lane. Ahead of her in the same lane was a Honda CRV. As she approached the intersection of Clarke Street and Mary Street the vehicle ahead veered right without signalling and then suddenly braked while straddling the two westbound lanes causing the collision.
The injury claimants’ ICBC statement did not mention the other vehicle veering right and ICBC argued that was inconsistent with what she said at the trial. Th judge found that the ICBC statement was not written by the injury claimant herself, but rather by the ICBC agent, who was clearly paraphrasing what injury claimant had told her. The claimant told the agent she was not satisfied with the statement, but the agent asked her to sign it anyway. In these circumstances, the ICBC statement was found not to constitute a previous inconsistent statement of the sort that would take away from the credibility of the claimants’ trial testimony.
The Judge found the other driver to be 100% at fault . The Judge was also satisfied that as a result of the accident the injury claimant suffered mild to moderate soft tissue injuries to her right ankle, right wrist, left neck, left shoulder, and right lumbar area. Her symptoms werefound to have largely resolved some two and one-half years after the accident. Posted by Mr. Renn A. Holness
Issue: Should an injury Claimant’s ICBC statement be allowed to be used against them in court?
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