This car accident personal injury claimant was awarded the cost of a private MRI as a reasonable disbursement (Gray v. Kohnert,2014 BCSC 888). This is great news for BC injury claimants but does have a few personal injury lawyers scratching their heads. Just weeks before this decision the Court refused the costs of a private…
This successful personal injury claimant was awarded double costs of all steps taken in the lawsuit following an offer to settle he made in the week before the trial (Ostrikoff v. Oliveira,2014 BCSC 842). In ICBC personal injury cases additional costs can be awarded to a party if they beat a reasonable offer made before the…
The best news in 33 years for ICBC claims and personal injury cases involving claims for future loss of earnings and costs of future care! The decrease in the discount rate for future loss announced April 30, 2014 means claimants can expect more money for awards and settlements for future losses. This better reflects the decrease in…
In this offer to settle a personal injury case Judge Funt has done away with the old rule against all-inclusive offers to settle. That is to say the Judge entertained an $250,000 all-inclusive pre-trial offer of the defendant when awarding double costs to the defendant, changing the law and overturning our Court of Appeal in Helm v. Pattie(1998),…
Quick Answer: “A Case Settles for what it is Worth” As a young lawyer I was told by my mentor Thomas O. Griffiths a case settles for what is it worth and was quickly put to work researching caselaw. I had a hard time understanding what he meant because you never know how much the…
Money compensation from ICBC and other insurance companies for pain and suffering should be dictated by the amount claimants are able to obtain under the law. In this car accident case the personal injury claimant was driving along Jacklin Road near Sooke Road in Victoria, B.C. when another car struck her right rear section while exiting a…
Important implications for ICBC settlements arise from this ground breaking Court of Appeal case forcing ICBC to pay double costs for failing to accept a reasonable offer of settlement (Meghji v. British Columbia (Ministry of Transportation and Highways,2014 BCCA 105 ). The court found that it is improper for ICBC to reject all settlement offers above the…
This 93 year old personal injury claimant completely ignored medical advice that he not travel on public transportation unassisted and injured his right shoulder after trying to exit a moving bus (Bideci v. Neuhold, 2014 BCSC 542). There is however prima facie negligence against public carriers and the driver was found 2/3 at fault for not looking carefully…
The court awarded more than $300,000.00 to this heavy duty mechanic that suffered injuries in two car accidents (Hong v. Wagner,2014 BCSC 373). Despite considerable concern surrounding the reliability and credibility of the claimant’s testimony the medical evidence established that the claimant has a permanent partial disability and will suffer from shoulder pain in the future.…
Personal injury lawyers in BC will want to take note that the Court of Appeal has reversed an award of trial costs as the judge was clearly wrong in finding that the defendants were successful. (Loft v. Nat,2014 BCCA 108). The Court of Appeal makes it clear that obtaining less money than what was requested…
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