When to refuse an ICBC offer of settlement, was a topic discussed in the trial judges decision and this is the personal injury claimants self appeal to the BC Court of Appeal(Gatzke v. Sidhu, 2013 BCCA 261) . The the injury claimant did not have a personal injury lawyer at her appeal and the court…
How much an injury victim gets for pain and suffering after a car accident in ICBC claims and other personal injury cases can be reduced by the court for not following medical treatment. In this case, after suffering a car accident injury in which medication was initially taken with success and then abandoned for no good reason,…
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, is required to release financial statements to lawyers and the general public which includes the amount they pay to injury claimants for out of court settlements. ICBC forecasts net income of $230 million in 2013 and $229 million in 2014, a total of $459 million after paying innocent victims injured…
The claimant was in a car accident in Kelowna, B.C. (Thorne v. Lind,2013 BCSC 862) and suffered injuries to her neck, right shoulder, and upper back area and the Court assessed what her case was worth. The other driver admitted fault but claimed the injuries were not related to the accident and was worth much less…
As a personal injury lawyer in BC since 1995 I’m often asked how to settle whiplash back injury and soft tissue injury claims with ICBC and how much a case is really worth. Rear end car accidents tend to be the number one culprit and ICBC has standard procedures for insurance adjusters to follow before payments…
This side of the road car accident injury case(Ruchelski v. Moore, 2013 BCSC 492) applies the rarely used Presumption of Negligence principle set out in the seminal Supreme Court of Canada case of Fontaine. Experienced personal injury lawyers in Canada have been aware for some time that Fontaine completely did away with the rebuttable presumption of Res ipsa loquitur(the…
In Canada most believe that innocent victims injured in car accidents should obtain some amount of compensation, however minimal, for pain and suffering and other losses without an attack on the victims credibility- In British Columbia this money usually comes from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, on behalf of the at fault driver- However in two personal injury appeal…
Putting the true value on whiplash claims when ICBC and other auto insurance companies offer $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 or more can be a challenge for a personal injury lawyer in British Columbia, not to mention claimants without lawyers. Today’s topic is how headrest use can impact the value of your soft tissue injury, or whiplash claim. This can be an important consideration when trying…
In this personal injury case Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, classified the collision as a low velocity impact case (Christoffersen v. Howarth,2013 BCSC 144). Damage to the vehicles was minor. Nevertheless, the Claimant said that she suffered unrelenting pain due to the car accident injuries . ICBC urged the court to conclude that the claimant could not have been…
Evidence in ICBC personal injury cases dictate the money award as this personal injury claimant lacking evidence (Brown v. Raffan,2013 BCSC 114) case illustrates. Although the claimant was awarded only $35,000.00 after making a claim for over $230,000.00, it appears that ICBC, insuring the at fault driver, took the position that the claimant should only get $10-20,000.00. The injury…
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