The purpose of an award for pain and suffering, called “non-pecuniary damages”, is to provide money compensation that ameliorates the condition of an injured claimant. In making such an award, the following factors are relevant: age of the claimant; nature of the injury;severity and duration of pain; disability; emotional suffering; loss or impairment of life; impairment of family, marital and social…
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…
The Court Appeal has made it clear in this personal injury case that an award for loss of future earning capacity reflects the exercise of judgment framed by clearly articulated factual findings. To require the trial judge to say more than he did in this case would be to impose an impossible burden on trial judges (Fadai…
After a hit and run car accident claimant’s cannot and should not rely on ICBC to advise them of the reporting reporting obligations, says the British Columbia Supreme Court. Even though an ICBC claimant is required to report to ICBC the circumstances and consequences within 30 days, the ICBC adjuster can remain tight lipped about…
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, is a government created auto insurance monopoly entrusted with providing universal public auto insurance in British Columbia. However, ICBC has been using biased medical experts to deny legitimate personal injury claims, the following case is a recent example (Litt v. Hassan, 2015 BCSC 1920). This twisted and tainted approach to…
The claimant suffered injuries as a passenger on a bus operated by the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, doing business as Translink and/or Coast Mountain Bus Company Limited (“Translink”). The claimant was 76 years old at the time of trial and claims that he fell when the bus on Translink’s route number eight stopped suddenly…
If you have a personal injury case in which the Court has awarded more than the offer you made before trial, you may be entitled to double your legal costs. The relevant parts of The Supreme Court Rule 9-1(5) and (6) state: (5) in a proceeding in which an offer to settle has been made, the…
In this Chronic regional myofascial pain syndrome case the 35 year old ICBC claimant was stopped in her car at a red light when she was struck from behind by the defendant. Liability for the car accident was admitted. Injuries to her neck, upper and lower back, shoulders, depression, sleep disturbance, fatigue, headaches and has chronic…
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…
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…