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.
Canada Pension Plan (“CPP ”) disability benefits are not considered part of a “policy of insurance” says the Supreme Court of Canada ( click here for Sabean v. Portage La Prairie Mutual Insurance Co., 2017 SCC 7) as CPP is a mandatory government program. This is an important decision for injury claimants in Nova Scotia. However, this decision…
The B.C. Women’s Hospital and one of it’s nurses successfully appealed this $1.7 million personal injury award in which they were found to have negligently injured a patient ( 2015 BCSC 1941 ). The trial judge found the Nurse to have breached her duty of care owed to the patient, when placing the claimant’s left foot on…
Two motor vehicle accidents are treated as one ICBC injury claim in today’s personal injury case review. In the first car accident the claimant was rear ended by a vehicle travelling at approximately 60 km/h at King George Highway and Highway #10 located in Surrey, British Columbia. The claimant’s vehicle was damaged and written off…
When an ICBC claimant is injured in two car accidents and is at fault for the first, how does the court deal with costs? Here is what the court did recently in Brach v. Letwin,2017 BCSC 101, a Fast Track case: the claimant was not entitled to recover his disbursements where they were solely attributable to…
In this disability insurance case the Court made an award for full indemnification of the claimant’s legal fees because she was forced to hire a lawyer to enforce the disability contract through litigation (Tanious v. The Empire Life Insurance Company, 2017 BCSC 85). The Supreme Court Judge came to this conclusion based on the following considerations: a) The claimant had…
If an ICBC offer is made after an auto accident first get the offer in writing and second confirm the deadline. Understanding offers of settlement is ephemeral for most people but personal injury lawyers gain an enduring knowledge of the ICBC settlement process. It does not matter whether it is the first, second, third or fourth offer…
ICBC claimants always ask me whether they need a lawyer for their injury case. This personal injury claimant did not have the assistance of a personal injury lawyer at his trial which involved two car accidents. He was found to be totally at fault for one accident and awarded $60,000 for the other. The claimant did…
In a case of bus driver negligence causing injury, the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal of ICBC and Translink, finding the circumstantial evidence adequate to infer negligence (click here for Benavides v. ICBC, 2017 BCCA 15). However, the Court of Appeal sidestepped the real underlying issue: should public carriers be under a stricter test of…
Should a prior ICBC Settlement amount be deducted from a second and new car accident injury claim? We answer this question in today’s a motor vehicle accident case review. This personal injury case involves a chronic pain claimant with a prior accident she settled with ICBC for $153,300 plus case expenses (the “Settlement”). Should the claimant be awarded a global amount…
So much has been written about how to make an effective personal injury claim with ICBC, key steps to the claim are often overlooked. Personal injury lawyers that have made hundreds or thousands of injury claims have the experiential knowledge to utilize three keys steps to starting any ICBC injury claim. Without effective advocacy for victims of personal injury…