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.

Maximum Amounts For ICBC Injury Claims

Part of my job as a personal injury lawyer often is to help claimants understand how much money they are entitled to receive from ICBC after a car accident injury.  The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is a Province wide government created insurance company responsible for compensated victims of personal injury on behalf of their…

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Credibility and not New Brain Science to Blame for Loss

After a car accident, a mild traumatic brain injury case usually relies heavily on the credibility of the claimant. With a normal MRI and no objective signs of injury, the court must rely on the credibility and reliability of the claimant and the strength of any corroborating evidence. The following appeal of a Brain Injury…

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ICBC Blanket Denials no Longer Acceptable to the Court

It is my experience as a lawyer representing car accident victims that ICBC and other insurance companies regularly deny all the facts alleged by an injury claimant in a lawsuit with little or no explanation. This type of response to a civil claim appears to no longer suffice as adequate pleadings in British Columbia.  In fact…

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No Binding Settlement as Entire Agreement not Considered

  A new standard for settlement proposals and settlement agreements has been set by the BC Court of Appeal .  In a dispute over whether a family law case was settled the court required the trial judge to analyze the evidence of the settlement agreement in light of all the material facts to determine the entire scope of…

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$130,000 Pain and Suffering for PTSD

In this post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) personal injury case the Claimant was driving along Como Lake Road in Coquitlam  when a van hit into the side of his vehicle. The other driver admitted liability, but disputed that the car accident induced PTSD in the claimant (Kim v. Khaw,2014 BCSC 2221). In many ICBC injury claims the insurance…

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What does it Take to Completely Lose your Personal Injury Case

The personal injury case I review involved a low velocity motor vehicle accident on the Fraser Highway in which the Judge concluded that no injury had been established (2014 BCSC 2135) . The Claimant had a history of addiction, abused both street and prescription narcotics, endured a catastrophic industrial accident and significant injuries prior to the…

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ICBC and the New Duty of Honesty in Contractual Performance

After a car accident the injured expect ICBC to act honestly when administrating accident insurance benefits under the universal auto insurance coverage. However the law in Canada  has never imposed a duty on the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia to perform the terms of the contract of insurance honestly, until now. In the ground breaking…

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Injury Claimant’s Failure to use Hazard Light Results in 60% Fault

This was  an appeal from a personal injury case apportioning 60% of the liability for a motor vehicle accident to the injury claimant. The car accident occurred on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway between Vancouver and North Vancouver (Langille v. Marchant, 2014 BCCA 430). The claimant rear-ended a vehicle  after passing the crest on…

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Important Tips when Reporting a Car Accident in BC: Online and On Time

In British Columbia reporting a motor vehicle accident is different than anywhere else in Canada. The Insurance Corporation of BC, ICBC, is the only insurance company in the Province that is permitted, upon notice, to provide accident benefits to people injured in motor vehicle accidents. As a personal injury lawyer in Vancouver since 1995 my…

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