This successful personal injury claimant was awarded double costs of all steps taken in the lawsuit following an offer to settle he made in the week before the trial (Ostrikoff v. Oliveira,2014 BCSC 842). In ICBC personal injury cases additional costs can be awarded to a party if they beat a reasonable offer made before the…
In this continuing personal injury saga the claimant’s left foot and ankle were struck by a rolling mounted truck tire from an unidentified vehicle, while he was riding a motorcycle on Highway 1 near Chilliwack, British Columbia(Walker v. Doe, 2014 BCSC 746). The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, was a nominal defendant in this lawsuit,…
In this offer to settle a personal injury case Judge Funt has done away with the old rule against all-inclusive offers to settle. That is to say the Judge entertained an $250,000 all-inclusive pre-trial offer of the defendant when awarding double costs to the defendant, changing the law and overturning our Court of Appeal in Helm v. Pattie(1998),…
ICBC’s offer to settle this personal injury case for $125,000.00 was just above the $121,600 awarded by the court. As a result the judge denied the claimant his costs after the date of the ICBC offer for the first accident and, having found the second car accident caused no injury, awarded costs to the other successful…
Important implications for ICBC settlements arise from this ground breaking Court of Appeal case forcing ICBC to pay double costs for failing to accept a reasonable offer of settlement (Meghji v. British Columbia (Ministry of Transportation and Highways,2014 BCCA 105 ). The court found that it is improper for ICBC to reject all settlement offers above the…
This personal injury case settled for $75,000 plus costs and disbursements recognizing the claimant’s loss of quality of life. The remaining dispute however was over the Claimants costs for hiring a booking agent to find a medical expert (Ross v. Logan, 2014 BCSC 548) . Taking a personal injury case to trial in British Columbia often…
Personal injury lawyers in BC will want to take note that the Court of Appeal has reversed an award of trial costs as the judge was clearly wrong in finding that the defendants were successful. (Loft v. Nat,2014 BCCA 108). The Court of Appeal makes it clear that obtaining less money than what was requested…
Personal injury lawyers are often faced with advising clients about offers of settlement. This, claimant gets awarded less than settlement offer case(Brewster v. Li,2014 BCSC 463) illustrates the modern approach BC Courts are taking to pre-trial offers of settlement. If you don’t accept a reasonable offer, expect to lose your costs and disbursements for trial,…
In personal injury cases, including slip and fall injuries, claimants are expected to move the litigation along and to name all of the right people and companies in the lawsuit. This dismissal of slip and fall case for want of prosecution (Morice v. Toronto-Dominion Bank,2014 BCSC 380) shows that when delay causes prejudice which goes directly and profoundly to…
A $222,000 offer to settle a car accident injury claim was rejected and after a ten day trial a jury awarded $53,000. In light of the juries award the claimant was denied the costs of preparation and attendance at trial (Wafler v. Trinh,2014 BCCA 95). The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia had made three offers to settle…