Requiring Injury Claimant to Sign Authorizations not Best Option

In this personal injury case ICBC made an application to force the claimant to sign authorizations for the production of certain medical records (Gee v. Basra,2015 BCSC 2495) . The order sought was: That within seven days of the date of this order the plaintiff do provide to counsel for the defendants, or alternatively do provide…

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ICBC Accident Benefits Inadequate for Many Claimants

Voluntary payments made by ICBC to victims of personal injury is a signal that the current system is inadequate. Without ICBC advanced payments made on the basis of third party liability coverage many claimants would not be able to survive after an accident related injury. Here are 3 basic accident benefits you can expect if you…

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The Open Court Process for Personal Injury Cases

  It is not surprising that in a free and democratic society we should have a public right to an open court process. Having truly a open court ensures that common values are being applied within all our British Columbia judicial proceedings. Openness is essential to accessibility and accountability in the judicial system. However, personal injury…

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Most Important Personal Injury Cases of 2015

Developments in personal injury law for 2015 are exciting and range from the new and approved claim of moral injury to new limits on sanctions that can be leveled against injury claimants. ICBC claimants that fail to accept a reasonable offer no longer have to pay double costs and Masters cannot impose financially crippling sanctions against claimants  in the document…

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ICBC Denied Last Minute Medical Examination of Injury Victim

In this personal injury case the ICBC insured could not reasonably claim to be surprised by the subject matter of a functional capacity evaluation report and was denied further medical examination of the claimant (Falbo v. Ryan,2015 BCSC 2452). It is rare that the court will order any further medical examinations after the 84 expert deadline. It…

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Shopping for the Best ICBC Injury Lawyer

It been over 20 years since I began the practice of Personal Injury Law in Vancouver and hiring an injury lawyer has diversified in that time. The decline of the Yellow pages and raise in the search engine has spawned new hierarchies for reliable information. Hiring a good personal injury lawyer for your ICBC claim will still provide the expertise…

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ICBC Must Pay Benefits Despite Prior Neck and Back Pain

This ICBC injury insurance Appeal case concerned the nature of the claim for injury benefits under Part 7 of the Insurance  Regulations and the interpretation of s. 96(f) of the Regulation when a claimant has a pre-existing condition . The case stands for the proposition that ICBC must prove that but for the pre-existing condition, the Claimant would not have become totally disabled(Kozhikhov…

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Insurance a Factor in an ICBC Offer to Settle

In this personal injury case ICBC was denied their costs despite the claimant failing to beat a  pre-trial offer to settle. ICBC made an offer of $93,500 to settle the lawsuit on behalf of the defendant 2 weeks before trial. The claimant refused the offer and was awarded $91,700 at trial (Zhao v. Yu,2015 BCSC 2342).…

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