Claimant Must Pay ICBC Legal Fees for Failure to Accept Settlement Offer

When this personal injury decision came out awarding $36,042.30  I called it A Case Study into What Not to Do in an ICBC Injury Claim. The ICBC claimant had sought an award of damages exceeding $2 million and after 33 days in trial almost all of the claims of loss were dismissed. In this follow up decision the Judge awarded ICBC…

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Headaches Diminish Ability to Operate Thriving Business and Results in Court Award

A personal injury award for loss of future earning capacity was awarded to this claimant despite his janitorial business continuing to be successful and thriving since the car accident in question(MacDonald v. Joseph,2015 BCSC 1461) The claimant was a 29 year old passenger when the head on car accident occurred on Vancouver Island. The airbags deployed in the…

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Hiring a Lawyer is Important to a Personal Injury Claim Explains Judge

In the following personal injury case the claimant represented herself against a horse-riding business offering guided trail rides to customers. The claimant  fell off a horse that she had rented while on a trail ride led by one of the guides (Starrett v. Campbell,2015 BCSC 1424). The claimant did not hire a lawyer to represent her at trial and…

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Annuities for Personal Injury Awards may Trigger Child Support Payments

If you settle an injury claim with ICBC after a car accident, and receive lifetime payments from an annuity, should those payments be considered income for the purpose of child support payment obligations? We help answer that question in the following case review. K.T. suffered serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident and entered into a settlement…

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Summary Trial Judge Finds Altered Trailer Caused Accident

This personal injury lawsuit arose from a motor vehicle accident which occurred when a trailer swayed in the wind and broke off injuring the claimant. This was a successful application by the claimant pursuant to Rule 9 – 7 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules for judgment against the defendant on the issue of liability. The court concluded…

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Police have no Duty to Warn of a Suicidal Car Chase

The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal of a police offer found 20% at fault for injury and death caused by a suicidal individual who drove his vehicle into oncoming traffic killing himself and the other driver (Bergen v. Guliker, 2015 BCCA 283). This case establishes that there is currently no recognized duty of care owned to the…

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Patient Confidentiality in ICBC Injury Claims

In British Columbia it is assumed that every personal injury claimant is entitled to the confidentiality implicit in his or her attendance in a physician’s examining room and protection of his or her privacy on a personal matter, absent serious concerns relating to health or safety, or express legislative provisions compelling release of the information in the…

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Legal Analysis for Multiple Car Accident Whiplash Claims

This ICBC personal injury claim arose out of two rear-end motor vehicle accidents.  The claimant  was involved in a third accident in which he was at fault. The question arose as to what impact, if any, the claimant’s responsibility for the third accident should have on the defendants’ liability for the consequences of his injuries (Derksen v. Nicholson,Insurance…

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Whiplash Award Reduced to $30,000 for failure to follow Medical Advice

In this whiplash soft tissue injury case the claimant was injured in three motor vehicle accidents and fault had been admitted by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia ICBC (Gupta v. ICBC et al, 2015 BCSC 608).  The judge however awarded the claimant $45,000 for pain and suffering but reduced it to $30,000 stating: [the claimant] has…

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