In Chai v. Greenwood 2020 BCSC 1294, the 46 year-old male injured claimant suffered headaches, mood changes and soft tissue injuries in a motor vehicle accident. The medical experts were of the opinion that while some more improvement was expected, it would not result in full recovery. As such, the injuries collectively were considered chronic…
As many British Columbians are aware, most ICBC claims settle without a trial. Settling with ICBC is advantageous to injured claimants in certain situations. With settlement, an injured claimant can control the amount of the ICBC payout by agreeing or refusing to agree to an ICBC settlement offer. In doing so, the injured claimant…
If you are injured in an accident, you have the right to sue the negligent (wrongful) party for compensation for your injuries and losses. Examples of losses that are commonly claimed in an ICBC settlements include income loss, future care costs and special damages (reimbursement of your out of pocket expenses). One type…
In a prior blog post, we discussed the current state of ICBC settlements in 2020. Specifically, we outlined ICBC’s settlement policy as encouraged by the NDP which refuses to provide reasonable settlements to injured claimants. When ICBC refuses to reasonably assess claims and to offer legitimate settlements, it unnecessarily forces cases to trial. This…
In Patterson v. Solymosi 2019 BCSC 1508, the injured claimant suffered soft tissue injuries to her neck and back, as well as a labral tear to her right hip, in a motor vehicle accident. As a result of her injuries, she was limited in her ability to function as a special education teacher which involved…
If you do not have a lawyer and you are dealing with ICBC on your own, the playing field is extremely uneven in that it heavily favours ICBC. This is because ICBC adjusters receive extensive on how to handle and settle claims to the benefit of ICBC, not you. ICBC adjusters have a significant…
The new ICBC minor injury caps passed by the NDP have been reviewed in several previous blog posts. In short, the term “minor” is extremely misleading because the list of injuries that are considered minor through this new law includes injuries that are not minor at all such as lifelong chronic soft tissue injuries if…
If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident in the US and the negligent driver was driving a vehicle with US licence plates, ICBC will not be involved in the tort injury claim even if your automobile insurance was with ICBC. There is an exception, however, to this general rule. You may pursue…
In a previous blog article, we discussed what happens if you make a formal offer to settle to ICBC prior to trial and you beat that offer in that you are awarded the same or more than this offer by the judge. But what happens if ICBC makes a formal offer to settle and you…
As was reported in a recent blog post, ICBC in 2019 rolled out its new policy of withdrawing settlement offers and replacing them with unreasonably low settlement offers. The result has been two-fold. First, ICBC is now dragging out claims for as long as possible in hopes that an injured claimant will give up and…