Car accident victims were delivered a catastrophic blow affecting injury settlements for 2018 and the future. Laws passed by a newly formed coalition government empower ICBC to deny, and not settle, injury claims. This has unleashed a flurry of low ICBC settlement offers and dire warnings for the future of innocent victim compensation in British Columbia. Many…
This personal injury claimant proceeded to trial without a lawyer and his claim was dismissed. ICBC had offered $1.00 to the claimant to settle the case before trial and after the claim was dismissed ICBC sought double costs for the claimant’s failure to accept the offer. This ICBC personal injury case involved a collision on Westside Road…
An offer to settle in any personal injury case should be clear and unambiguous. The claimant and ICBC should use plain language when settling car accident cases. The offer of settlement should avoid colloquialisms or idioms that are understood by a limited audience. In today’s case review an ICBC insured sought to deny an injury…
The court has made it clear, where there is a blatant breach of a settlement agreement, a punitive damages award is appropriate in addition to the other awards. In this case the court was satisfied that an award of punitive damages in the amount of $50,000 was an appropriate amount. In ICBC settlements the same principles…
The first tip, the ICBC adjuster works for ICBC not the injured claimant. ICBC does not assign claimants their own advocates after a car accident. No one at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, will look out for the claimants best interests when it comes to settling an injury case. Second tip for ICBC injury…
Making an settlement offer agreeing to agree is unenforceable. Likewise if ICBC makes an offer to settle which is an agreement to agree then this offer is not a true offer to settle. In a pithy statement on the power of the Court to enforce out of court settlement agreements, the Court of Appeal had…
The claimant was rear ended when stopped in traffic which caused her vehicle to strike the rear of another vehicle in front of her. This personal injury case settled on the Friday prior to the commencement of trial the following Monday. The settlement was for payment of $736,807.00 new money, plus assessable costs and disbursements for…
The Rear Ender: Mechanics of Whiplash Associated Disorder The neck acts as a stationary marker during an average rear end impact collision. When hit from behind by a car the spine and torso load the seat and the torso begins to accelerate. Significantly high shear forces develop in the neck and brain, the spinal curves straighten and the…
The Calderbank offer to settle has been enshrined in our Rules of Court since 2010 and since 1975 has been the best way to legally enforce cost consequences for reasonable offers to settle. Emerging and imminent injury lawyers alike must understand and apply these principles of settlement. History of the Formal Offer Prior to…
The claimant delivered a formal offer to settle pursuant to Rule 9-1 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules. This was a commercial matter in BC but is relevant to personal injury claims as the same rule is applies to offers to and from ICBC. The relevant portion of the offer stated: In all of the circumstances, my client…
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