In this personal injury case ICBC made a settlement offer of $70,000.00 plus costs 4 business days before trial and the claimant did not accept the offer nor respond with a counter-offer (Ben-Yosef v. Dasanjh, 2016 BCSC 1945 ). This was a four day Fast Track Trial. The Court awarded the claimant $32,548.52 plus costs as a result of…
There has been much confusion in the legal community over the issue of witnesses and witness lists in civil cases. The issue is whether plaintiffs can call witnesses who are not in the plaintiffs’ trial brief has now been answered by Supreme Court Judge Steeves in the case 2016 BCSC 2038. Here is the answer: The Rules…
For ICBC personal injury claims, and other personal injury cases, the laws governing settlement offers are more confusing than any time in history. The Supreme Court Rules changed in 2010 and judicial interpretation since then has set settlement negotiations on a new course. The consequences for failing to accept a reasonable offer are now left to judicial…
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…
Personal Injury lawyers should know that the Court of Appeal has allowed the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia to challenge an order that allows the tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc. access to a number of government databases containing personal healthcare information. The central issue on appeal will be whether the chambers judge erred in not…
ICBC still is unable to make reasonable offers to settle in many personal injury cases despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars updating their computer systems and firing over 250 mostly managers. The promise of “firm but fair” offer seems to have turned to “firmly unfair” thanks to ICBC. In the most recent case of Sebaa…
Developments in personal injury law for 2015 are exciting and range from the new and approved claim of moral injury to new limits on sanctions that can be leveled against injury claimants. ICBC claimants that fail to accept a reasonable offer no longer have to pay double costs and Masters cannot impose financially crippling sanctions against claimants in the document…
In this personal injury case the ICBC insured could not reasonably claim to be surprised by the subject matter of a functional capacity evaluation report and was denied further medical examination of the claimant (Falbo v. Ryan,2015 BCSC 2452). It is rare that the court will order any further medical examinations after the 84 expert deadline. It…
The court has allowed the late admission of policy guidelines as ICBC is sued for maliciously prosecuting charges of uttering false statements. The allegation is that the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, and its investigators ignored evidence, mischaracterized evidence, and fabricated evidence to support charges of uttering a false statement against the claimant and her husband…
In this Fast Track personal injury case, the claimant settled 5 months before trial and was successful in seeking the full amount allowed for legal costs pursuant to Rule 15-1(15) (Karp v. Kalsi,2015 BCSC 1949). The car accident in question occurred 4 years before the scheduled trial after the parties had exchanged documents and the claimant was examined for discovery.…