In the usual course, a driver who rear-ends another vehicle will be found at fault for the accident. It is only in exceptional circumstances that the driver who was rear ended will be liable such as when he/she made a sudden, unexpected and unexplained stop. In Bains v. Chatakanonda 2018 BCSC 2412, the claimant was…
Property Owner’s Duty of Care The Occupiers Liability Act establishes responsibility upon property owners and occupiers to ensure their premises are safe and free of hazards. It creates a duty of care which is summarized as follows: The duty of care is to take reasonable care in the circumstances to make the premises safe The…
The ICBC injury claimant was injured in a 2013 motor vehicle accident. The collision occurred in Burnaby at Nelson Avenue and Hazel Street when he was traveling straight and was hit by the defendant who was turning left from the opposite direction. At trial Christensen v. Jand 2018 BCSC 1294 , the experts agreed that…
Written by Ms. Jacqueline A. Small, B.A. LL.B. – A property owner owes a duty of care to workers carrying out construction work on the business or home. Home and business owners could be responsible for injuries suffered by workers not protected from risks and hazards. This includes falling injuries and slip and fall. Occupier’s Liability…
A very tragic motor vehicle accident occurred in Trail, BC when a young woman was killed after getting hit by a vehicle driven by an elderly driver. Despite having his driver’s licence revoked for being legally blind, he was a regular fixture in the community driving to and from Tim Hortons at the same time…
Written by Ms. Jacqueline A. Small, B.A. LL.B In this personal injury case the ICBC injury claimant was rear-ended while stopped for traffic on the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver (Verjee v. Dunbrak 2019 BCSC 1696). At trial, the injury claimant argued that the motor vehicle accident caused her to suffer from ongoing chronic pain in…
Surveillance is one of the main tools ICBC uses to investigate ICBC injury claims. While some level of investigation is important to verify ICBC injury claims, in reality ICBC often uses surveillance to uncover evidence to discredit injured claimants and attack their claims. To this end, ICBC routinely hires private investigators to follow and videotape…
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, insures all guilty BC drivers. ICBC also insures the injured claimant for purposes of ICBC accident injury benefits. The result is a mandatory state controlled insurance scheme. By law, ICBC has the monopoly on third party liability auto insurance. So it can be difficult to achieve a fair…
The claimant witnessed his wife get hit by a motorcycle as they jaywalked across Yates Street in Victoria. Although not hit himself, the claimant suffered a severe emotional reaction. He therefore claimed compensation for the mental injury. Nervous Shock : Legal Elements “Psychiatric injury” is the favoured term over “nervous shock” (see 1999 decision of…
This case explains how to apply to strike a jury notice in a motor vehicle case. The claimant applied to strike the jury due to complex medical causation issues. He argued that somatic symptom disorder, SSD, was far too difficult for a jury to understand.(Lee v. Averbach, 2019 BCSC 1280). The court disagreed and did…