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.

Test for Mental Injury the Same in Contract as Tort

  Personal injury lawyers should know this wrongful dismissal contract case, as the employer successfully appealed a $30,000 mental distress award for aggravated damages. The Court of Appeal found there was no evidentiary foundation for a mental injury award for aggravated damages  despite the Supreme Court Case Saadati (Lau v. Royal Bank of Canada,2017 BCCA 253).  In…

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Suing for Assault does not Require Touching

Suing for civil assault in BC is different than claiming battery or negligence. As Judge Fleming states in the recent case of Akintoye v. White, 2017 BCSC 1094: [94]   Despite its name, the tort of assault involves the intentional creation of the apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive conduct but no actual touching. A battery occurs whenever…

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No Expert Opinion Needed to Strike Jury

A jury trial is a presumptive right in a personal injury action. This car accident injury occurred on Salt Spring Island when another vehicle, travelling in the opposite direction, turned left and into the path of the claimant’s vehicle. Given the complicated mental injury claim and other legal issues the claimant applied, unsuccessfully, to have the jury struck.…

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Defining Mental Injury in Personal Injury Claims

Mental injury has also been referred to by courts as psychological injury, psychiatric injury, emotional trauma, nervous shock, hysteria, mental distress, and a host of medical terms such as conversion disorder, somatic system disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression. The Supreme Court of Canada in Saadati has synthesized all these terms down to…

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Vancouver Coastal Health Authority 70% at Fault for Negligence

This Court of Appeal case displays the behaviour of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, nurses and doctors in British Columbia when it come to defending against medically negligent mistakes. This appeals arose out of a medical negligence action in which a nurse and doctor were found to be negligent at the emergency department of Powell River General Hospital.…

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Surrey Residents Searching for Personal Injury Lawyer

Living in Surrey has its advantages although after a car accident personal injury lawyers must file suit in another city such as Vancouver. Surrey has an ICBC claim centre, convenient after a car accident, but does not currently have a Supreme Court Registry. The Vancouver Court building houses the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Registries. Here is…

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Distracted Driving Doublespeak Good for Insurance Companies

There have always been distractions for drivers since the invention of the automobile, yet the buzz term “distracted driving” claims to be a new phenomenon.  This deliberately euphemistic and ambiguous term has been used to justify a massive increase in fines to the public and higher insurance premiums hence more profits for Canadian auto insurers. In…

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Jury Awards Much More than ICBC Offer but No Double Costs says Judge

This injury claimant made an offer to settle in the amount of $195,000 about 2 weeks before trial and ICBC responded with an unrealistic and meager $70,000 offer. It only took the jury 6 hours to award $294,500 as damages for the injuries she sustained in a motor vehicle accident. This jury verdict was an incredible 4x…

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