After a car accident injury a claimant has a duty to mitigate, or minimize his or her losses. However this case takes mitigation to new levels, expecting a career carpenter to seek alternative employment or face a reduction in his injury claim (Klein v. Sangha,2016 BCSC 1864. The claimant was 39 years of age at trial and…
The claimant originally claimed personal injury losses as well as loss of income and associated losses. However, ICBC had the personal injury lawsuit dismissed due to WCB vs. ICBC injury claim rules. The claimant was however able to maintain an action for his business-related losses, including the loss of a $40,000 lease deposit on his vehicle. In Singh v.…
In an understated but significant reduction in the injury award Judge Verhoeven made the following comment about the failure to use antidepressant medication, In this modern age such treatment does not have the stigma it once did, and I find that her refusal to take treatment is unreasonable and the defendant should not have to…
Can ICBC reduce an injury award because you did not attend recommended therapy or treatment for depression or anxiety? We explore the answer in the following injury case review. The claimant was injured in a rear end motor vehicle accident on the Seymour Parkway driving towards Deep Cove in British Columbia. She suffered ongoing chronic pain in her neck, shoulder…
Even if an injury claimant wins at trial in an ICBC injury claim, defendant’s have a right of appeal. In this case even though the defendant lost at trial they alleged that the trial judge was wrong and should have blamed the claimant for her own injuries (failure to mitigate) and should have drawn an adverse…
Our Supreme Court Judges have no power to deal with the rights of employees and the liability of employers when car accident personal injuries are suffered in the course of employment, concludes Judge Burnyeat after an extensive review of the law (Pinch v. Hofstee,2015 BCSC 1888). The claimant was injured in two motor vehicle accidents ( MVA#1 and…
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…
Personal injury lawyers in Vancouver and the rest of BC need to consider taking a new approach to making allegations of injury. Overstating injuries in a personal injury lawsuit, as found in this case (Rasmussen v. Blower,2014 BCSC 1697) can lead to a poor outcome. The claimant in this personal injury case was a passenger…