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.

ICBC Claims Chart for Personal Injury

Seeking advice about the value of an ICBC claim? As a lawyer I am often asked whether there is list to go to find out how much a particular personal injury is worth. Essentially a list of body parts and corresponding compensation amounts for each area of the body. For example, $25,000 for whiplash to the…

Read more

ICBC Insurance Claim Application Important In Personal Injury Case

In this minor damage car accident case ICBC denied the claim but the claimant sought a large award for personal injury damages. ICBC said that the claimant  responded to ICBC’s denial of her claim by alleging injuries and losses that were not real or were not caused by the collision. The ICBC accident claim form she completed was not…

Read more

Rejecting $100,000 Offer and Firing Lawyer Leads to $50,000 Award

The personal injury lawyer hired by this claimant was able to negotiate an offer to settle of $100,000 with ICBC in a car accident injury case. However, the claimant was not happy with this amount,  fired the lawyer and went to court himself. The court awarded the claimant $50,000 (2015 BCSC 1504) and ordered the claimant to pay the lawyer his proper fees for…

Read more

$125,000 Pain and Suffering Award for Chronic Pain Syndrome

In this Chronic regional myofascial pain syndrome case the 35 year old ICBC claimant was stopped in her car at a red light when she was struck from behind by the defendant. Liability for the car accident was admitted. Injuries to her neck, upper and lower back, shoulders, depression, sleep disturbance, fatigue, headaches and has chronic…

Read more

Claimant Must Pay ICBC Legal Fees for Failure to Accept Settlement Offer

When this personal injury decision came out awarding $36,042.30  I called it A Case Study into What Not to Do in an ICBC Injury Claim. The ICBC claimant had sought an award of damages exceeding $2 million and after 33 days in trial almost all of the claims of loss were dismissed. In this follow up decision the Judge awarded ICBC…

Read more

Headaches Diminish Ability to Operate Thriving Business and Results in Court Award

A personal injury award for loss of future earning capacity was awarded to this claimant despite his janitorial business continuing to be successful and thriving since the car accident in question(MacDonald v. Joseph,2015 BCSC 1461) The claimant was a 29 year old passenger when the head on car accident occurred on Vancouver Island. The airbags deployed in the…

Read more

Hiring a Lawyer is Important to a Personal Injury Claim Explains Judge

In the following personal injury case the claimant represented herself against a horse-riding business offering guided trail rides to customers. The claimant  fell off a horse that she had rented while on a trail ride led by one of the guides (Starrett v. Campbell,2015 BCSC 1424). The claimant did not hire a lawyer to represent her at trial and…

Read more

Annuities for Personal Injury Awards may Trigger Child Support Payments

If you settle an injury claim with ICBC after a car accident, and receive lifetime payments from an annuity, should those payments be considered income for the purpose of child support payment obligations? We help answer that question in the following case review. K.T. suffered serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident and entered into a settlement…

Read more

Summary Trial Judge Finds Altered Trailer Caused Accident

This personal injury lawsuit arose from a motor vehicle accident which occurred when a trailer swayed in the wind and broke off injuring the claimant. This was a successful application by the claimant pursuant to Rule 9 – 7 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules for judgment against the defendant on the issue of liability. The court concluded…

Read more