ICBC Injury Settlements and the Top Ten Mistakes Made By Car Accident Claimants

I have been a personal injury lawyer in British Columbia since 1995 and am always asked to give legal advice about ICBC offers of settlement.  All too often injury claimants call me at best at the final hour or when it is too late to save a critical element of the car accident case. I certainly…

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Personal Injury Award Reduced Due to Prior Back Pain and Fault for Car Accident

In this ICBC Langley personal injury claim (Shinkaruk v. Crouch,2011 BCSC 1762) a pickup truck collided with the claimant’s car in the intersection of 96th Avenue and Telegraph Trail.  The weather was clear, visibility was good and the streets were bare. The claimant’s evidence was that he pulled up to the sidewalk and looked to…

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Retired Lawyer Represents Himself in Personal Injury Case and Receives Low Award

This case is another reminder of why it is important to hire a personal injury lawyer if you have been injured in a car accident( see: Pearlman v. Phelps Leasing Ltd.,2011 BCSC 1696). The Judge had a difficult time accepting the testimony of the claimant stating, “The plaintiff’s credibility from the onset of the trial before…

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Injured Car Accident Passenger Settles for $900,000 and gets Low Interest Award on Costs

The claimant was five years of age and was a back seat passenger in a car being  driven by his uncle. Their car was in the midst of making a left turn in the intersection of 49Th Avenue and Knight Street in the City of Vancouver when it was hit  by another car going southbound . This case involved issues…

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Personal Injury Claimant Awarded over $250,000.00 for Car Accident Injury

The claimant was injured in a car crash in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast near Gibsons, British Columbia (Milliken v. Rowe, 2011 BCSC 1458). While the injury claimant  was turning left at an intersection the other driver attempted to pass on the left  striking  the driver’s side of the claimant’s car. The personal injury claimant  was 37 when she was…

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Generous ICBC Offer to Settle Refused and Injury Claimant Must Pay Expenses

This is an ICBC car crash injury costs case which happened at the intersection of 64th Avenue and 152nd Street in Surrey, BC(Gatzke v. Sidhu, 2011 BCSC 1214). It was dark and raining.  The injury claimant was westbound on 64th Avenue and  her evidence was that she was planning to drive further along 64th and eventually to turn right and…

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Truck Accident Injury Claimant awarded over $1 Million for Traumatic Brain Injury

In this highway truck accident injury claim (Harrington v. Sangha, 2011 BCSC 1035) the at fault driver lost control of a tractor trailer he was driving north on Highway 97 at an “S” turn in the highway, near Sales Road, about 20 km south of Quesnel. He felt his truck slide across the road as the trailer…

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Personal Injury Appeal Successful, Judge Wrong about Car Accident Not Being Cause of his Disabling Pain

The British Columbia trial judge in this stunning Disc Disease versus whiplash injury case (Farrant v. Laktin,2011 BCCA 336) was found to be wrong after misapprehending the threshold issue of causation as an “either/or” proposition and further erred in failing to consider whether there was a substantial connection between the accident and the injury claimant’s disabling…

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Accident Injury Claims in Vancouver Lead to $201,000 Award for Loss of Mortgage Business

In this two car accident  low back personal injury lawsuit(Doho v. Melnikova,2011 BCSC 703) the main issues that led this ICBC case to not settle were: loss of opportunity to earn past income; reduction of  the injury claimant’s future earning capacity; ICBCs’ allegation that the claimant  failed to mitigate his loss; and the ICBC claim that the injuries did not impact the claimant’s earning capacity. ICBC admitted fault…

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Car Accident Claimant Awarded Legal Fees Despite Low Personal Injury Award

In British Columbia car accident injury claimants that bring their lawsuit in Small Claims Court are not entitled to a contribution toward their legal fee even if they win the case. If an award for a personal injury is less than $25,000.00 the Supreme Court will not award a  contribution toward  legal fee unless the claimant…

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