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…
No, There is no such limit on the compensation available to ICBC whiplash claimants or others suffering from neck injury and soft tissue injury in British Columbia. Howver, Accidents after April 1, 2019 may be subject to the 2019 ICBC Minor Injury Cap. ICBC is now allowed to call serious injuries minor to limit compensation.…
Formal offers to settle in personal injury cases, including ICBC, filed in the Supreme Court are regulated by the Supreme Court Rules. Rule 9-1 is very specific about what is considered an offer to settle. An “offer to settle” is an offer that: (i) is made in writing by a party to a proceeding, (ii) has been…
The settlement amount offered to ICBC and the timing of the offer is important to a claim for double costs, even in “Fast Track” cases. As a general rule, the successful party in a fast-track personal injury case is awarded $6,500 in pre-trial costs and $1,500 in costs for each day of trial. Where an offer to…
Doctors and therapists that want to avoid earning the label of “hired gun” should: (1) limit the amount of work they do for one insurance company; (2) keep up to date with changes in medical research; (3)avoid unnecessarily criticizing medical colleagues without adequate justification; and (4) diagnose a condition in the same way they would…
The factors to be considered when valuing a personal injury claim with ICBC or other insurance companies will change according to the stage of your case. Some of the factors that may be important early on, such as claim reporting and notification, will give way to symptom documentation and medical diagnosis. Beware of the ICBC…
There are 2 types of payments ICBC is required make for lost wages: One for Temporary Total Disability Benefits (TTD); and the other for your actual wage-loss. Disability payment are made when, (a) a claimant is insured; (b) has proof of inability to work for more than 7 days in the first 21 days; and (c)…
The Court of Appeal has done away with any legal basis for ICBC’s policy of denying disability benefits when total disability arises beyond the first 104 weeks of a car accident(Symons v. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia,2016 BCCA 207 ). Long term disability benefits for personal injury claims must now be paid for future periods of…
If ICBC hires a doctor to examine a claimant, the denial of the claim may be based on “junk science” and therefore can be challenged. Novelty is a measure of reliability which must be balanced against its effect on the mind of the trier of fact. The concept of ‘novel’ is used to distinguish evidence that…
ICBC, in this personal injury case, having been ordered to pay almost $400,000 in punitive damages for reprehensible conduct, wins a stay in the payment pending their appeal (Arsenovski v. Bodin,2016 BCCA 178). This ICBC injury case involved a car accident which occurred at the intersection of Nelson Avenue and Imperial Street in Burnaby. The claimant pedestrian was…