In prior blog posts, we have written about ICBC’s current strategy of making low offers to settle which drive cases to trial unnecessarily instead of settling for a fair and reasonable amount. This has resulted in enormous amounts of money being spent by ICBC wastefully with the NDP instead blaming injured claimants. ICBC’s mismanagement and…
In the past year, an unusual number of ICBC cases have proceeded to trial. This is in large part due to ICBC’s current tactic of offering unreasonable and low ICBC settlement offers. As a result, numerous trials have been adjourned and postponed because there simply are not enough judges or courtrooms to handle the amount…
In Patterson v. Solymosi 2019 BCSC 1508, the injured claimant suffered soft tissue injuries to her neck and back, as well as a labral tear to her right hip, in a motor vehicle accident. As a result of her injuries, she was limited in her ability to function as a special education teacher which involved…
David Eby and his NDP government have been very vocal about ICBC’s financial problems. Instead of making changes to ICBC’s management who are responsible for its policies and procedures that are clearly not working, the changes made are directed at injured claimants by eroding their rights. Shouldn’t the ICBC executive who are responsible for how…
The Supreme Court has presented a new interpretation to offers to settle when it comes to ICBC settlement offers(Kobetitch v. Belski,2018 BCSC 2247). This personal injury lawsuit involved two motor vehicle accidents, the jury awarding the claimant $760,000. ICBC sought costs of the trial based on offers to settle delivered before the trial began. The first ICBC offer…
In this personal injury lawsuit the claimant, in his early 20s at the time of the car accident, sustained injuries to his neck, wrist, shoulder, and lumbar spine . The other driver conceded guilt for the accident so the case issues were:(1) the type of injuries; and (2) compensation amount to be awarded for the injuries.(Domijan v. Jeon,2018 BCSC 1988)…
An offer to settle in any personal injury case should be clear and unambiguous. The claimant and ICBC should use plain language when settling car accident cases. The offer of settlement should avoid colloquialisms or idioms that are understood by a limited audience. In today’s case review an ICBC insured sought to deny an injury…
The Calderbank offer to settle has been enshrined in our Rules of Court since 2010 and since 1975 has been the best way to legally enforce cost consequences for reasonable offers to settle. Emerging and imminent injury lawyers alike must understand and apply these principles of settlement. History of the Formal Offer Prior to…
The claimant delivered a formal offer to settle pursuant to Rule 9-1 of the Supreme Court Civil Rules. This was a commercial matter in BC but is relevant to personal injury claims as the same rule is applies to offers to and from ICBC. The relevant portion of the offer stated: In all of the circumstances, my client…
This personal injury claimant did not accept a reasonable offer to settle and the award at trial was significantly less than the offer. The claimant was offered more than $400,000 to settle his personal injury case before court but he refused. The jury awarded him under $200,000.(Luckett v. Chahal,2017 BCSC 1983) The court found the…