ICBC is the auto monopoly defending most personal injury claims in British Columbia. In the last 6 years ICBC has refused to settle legitimate personal injury claims making very low offers, slogging through and clogging the courts. ICBC is causing intense aggravation of pain and suffering to victims of personal injury.Some may be convinced the recent crisis within…
Personal injury lawyers and claimants need to know that a “without prejudice” letter from an insurance adjuster containing a request to settle does not extend the limitation deadline to start the lawsuit, says the Court of Appeal (Trombley v. Pannu,2016 BCCA 324). The trial judge dismissed this personal injury case as statute barred, finding that the letter from the adjuster did not acknowledge…
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…
Astonishing new communication rule from our Court of Appeal will effect all personal injury cases in the Province: When parties agree to the use of email as a form of communication, once delivered to the email inbox of the other lawyer, the delivering party now has a “legitimate expectation that the email would be read”. (Great…
What happens if a claimant does not accept an ICBC offer and the court awards less than the amount offered? Are you forced to accept whatever ICBC offers? Is it a factor that ICBC is a big fish in the small pond of personal injury? Today’s ICBC offer to settle case shows that not accepting an offer…
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…
ICBC is now forced to pay double costs on behalf of their insured after failing to accept several reasonable offers to settle this personal injury claim. ICBC’s unreasonable conduct forced this claimant to pursue this car accident litigation for over 10 years to obtain an award of over $700,000.00 from the court for soft tissue injuries to her…
In this personal injury case ICBC was denied their costs despite the claimant failing to beat a pre-trial offer to settle. ICBC made an offer of $93,500 to settle the lawsuit on behalf of the defendant 2 weeks before trial. The claimant refused the offer and was awarded $91,700 at trial (Zhao v. Yu,2015 BCSC 2342).…
In this twisted car accident injury case the ICBC claimant asked for $3 million and received only $62,900 for his injury after a Supreme Cour trial. He was also denied his legal costs. The claimant lost his appeal on the issue of quantum but the Court of Appeal found that as the successful party he was entitled to…
If you have a personal injury case in which the Court has awarded more than the offer you made before trial, you may be entitled to double your legal costs. The relevant parts of The Supreme Court Rule 9-1(5) and (6) state: (5) in a proceeding in which an offer to settle has been made, the…