Once a claim for personal injury is settled there is often post settlement negotiations to award the reasonable case costs. This post settlement negotiation can have a dramatic impact on the money a claimant gets in their pocket after fees, expenses and taxes. In this personal injury case the defendants served the claimant with an…
When making an offer to settle a personal injury case with ICBC it is important serve the offer to settle on all parties of record. In BC Personal injury cases there are usually two main claims that need to be settled: tort and Part VII. The tort claim is the negligence claim against the at…
A new standard for settlement proposals and settlement agreements has been set by the BC Court of Appeal . In a dispute over whether a family law case was settled the court required the trial judge to analyze the evidence of the settlement agreement in light of all the material facts to determine the entire scope of…
My experience as a Vancouver Personal Injury Lawyer allows me to share a few unique insights into ICBC negotiated settlements. Settlement with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia when you don’t have a lawyer is inherently unequal. ICBC is a sophisticated insurance company with the experience of settling thousands of personal injury cases. Claimants often…
May 24, 2019- Whether personal injury claimants have been diagnosed with whiplash, soft tissue injury, WAD (whiplash associated disorder), back or neck injury, a $25,000 offer from ICBC to resolve a personal injury claim can be temping to accept, especially with minor injury caps.In British Columbia money awarded for pain and suffering is assessed and…
This personal injury lawsuit was settled about 10 days before the beginning of the trial, after the claimant accepted an Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, offer of settlement for approximately $155,000.00 plus costs and disbursements (Salsman v. Planes,2014 BCSC 1726). Following settlement, the claimant’s personal injury lawyer presented a bill of costs in the sum…
This modest out of court motor vehicle accident settlement with ICBC concerned, in part, the costs of a Functional Capacity Evaluation (“FCE”) set up by the claimant’s personal injury lawyer. The claimant suffered soft tissue injuries to his neck and upper back after the accident and had ongoing left shoulder pain. If the matter did not settle…
In this personal injury case involving two motor accidents occurring 6 months apart(Wang v. Dhaliwal,2014 BCSC 1662) the court awarded two set of legal costs totaling $13,000 in addition to the $59,000 out of court settlement. In British Columbia money you get for legal costs as a successful litigation are awarded to to help off-set the actual…
In this personal injury car accident case ICBC applied for an award of its costs or, alternatively, to deprive the claimant of their costs. ICBC offered to settle for $50,000.00 with the husband and $150,000.00 for the wife. After more than two weeks at trial the Judge awarded the wife $75,000.00 and the husband $189,000.00. (Liu…
This personal injury claimant offered to settle with ICBC for $60,000.00 one day before trial. The offer was only open for acceptance until that same afternoon at 4 p.m. The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, insurer for the defendant, rejected the offer and the trial judge awarded the claimant over $67,000.00 (Barnes v. Lima, 2014 BCSC 1475).…