Since 2010, Holness and Small Law Group has written over 1000 legal blog articles. We believe that staying informed and current with personal injury news and case developments is essential to providing proper legal services to our clients when advocating for their rights.
A door-to-door self driving service for people with disabilities would be welcomed by many in BC. The NDP left out stable funding for HanyDART in their last budget and have done nothing to support self driving fleet technology. Current taxi service is expensive and only accessible to those with benefits or private funding. Driverless door-to-door…
Evaluating how much your ICBC injury claim is worth for chronic pain will now depend on the date of the accident. Attorney General David Eby has artificially defined chronic pain as a “minor injury” for accidents after April 1, 2019 to save ICBC money. Mr. Eby has clogged the courts by encouraging ICBC to low…
The claimant witnessed his wife get hit by a motorcycle as they jaywalked across Yates Street in Victoria. Although not hit himself, the claimant suffered a severe emotional reaction. He therefore claimed compensation for the mental injury. Nervous Shock : Legal Elements “Psychiatric injury” is the favoured term over “nervous shock” (see 1999 decision of…
This case explains how to apply to strike a jury notice in a motor vehicle case. The claimant applied to strike the jury due to complex medical causation issues. He argued that somatic symptom disorder, SSD, was far too difficult for a jury to understand.(Lee v. Averbach, 2019 BCSC 1280). The court disagreed and did…
This claimant was physically assaulted by an unknown customer while waiting in line at the retail store, London Drugs. He claimed London Drugs was civilly liable for the injuries he suffered in the assault. The claim was in negligence and under the Occupiers Liability Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 337 ( slip and fall legislation). Without…
The BC NDP have set arbitrary limits on judges access to expert opinion. This will reduce intelligent decision making and eliminate the ability to resolve sophisticated civil disputes. The dumbing down of the court will have a negative impact on innocent victims. The changes to the expert rules will empower state-run bodies such as ICBC,…
The race to provide the first self-driving taxi service won’t start in 2019. Chief Executive Officer Dan Ammann of Cruise confirmed the service will not be rolled out in the near future. However, Google’s Waymo is not far behind and may have the driverless taxi service available in 2020. Cruise has raised over $7 billion…
This ICBC claimant suffered injuries sustained in two separate motor vehicle collisions. He succeeded in obtaining a $158,142.00 award against the guilty drivers for his injury. However, he did not have a lawyer and took the unusual step of seeking punitive damages for bad faith against ICBC for the way he was treated. He claimed…
Loss of future income and cost of future care are often awarded in one lump sum in personal injury cases. A $5.85 million medical malpractice settlement has tested the court rationale behind the discount rate on future losses. The Court of Appeal has reduced the award of $997,060 for investment management fees to $50,000.00. Defendant’s…
The Court of Appeal has upheld the dismissal of a bizarre medical-legal malpractice case. The appellant alleged that he was mistreated and assaulted by hospital staff. His claim included defamation, malicious prosecution, battery and physical assault, and intentional infliction of harm. (Universe v. Fraser Health Authority, 2019 BCCA 234) The lawyers representing the doctors were…