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…
Pain and suffering after a car accident is often claimed by personal injury lawyers for clients but can the award be reduced if the claimant fails to take medical marijuana? The Supreme Court of BC said the injury claimant’s personal injury award should not be reduced for failing to take medical cannabis (Glesby v. MacMillian,2014 BCSC 334).…
The medical consensus was that the car accident victim had pre-existing degenerative changes of the lumbar spine which pre-dated the two motor vehicle accidents in question. The issue was to what extent the injury claimant may have suffered chronic low back pain despite the car accidents (Hoy v. Williams,2014 BCSC 234)The weight of medical opinion…
Yoga therapy likely mitigated further loss for this personal injury claimant as the trial judge awards life long Yoga therapy. The Court of Appeal upheld this $28,000 award for a yoga club membership as part of the cost of future care and $100,000 future wage loss award recognizing that the claimant was a high performing…
This personal injury claimant suffered soft tissue injuries in a car accident which developed into pain disorder. The issue at trial was the assessment of damages, and the first jury awarded her $528,000.00. This amount was overturned on appeal creating a a new “Reliable Hearsay Test” in personal injury cases. The second jury awarded her only…
In this first reported personal injury case of 2014 the judge awarded the claimant $100,000.00 for pain and suffering and reduced it by 40% to $60,000.00 reflecting that only 60% of her ongoing complaints and symptoms were caused by the car accident, with the balance attributable to her pre-existing condition.(Raikou v. Spencer,2014 BCSC 1). The judge…
Can a personal injury award be reduced? Renn Holness explains in this week’s videoblog.
In this low velocity car accident injury case (Naidu v. Gill,2012 BCSC 1461) the injury claimant waited over one year to report his accident to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC. The accident took place when the claimant was rear ended near the intersection of 88th Avenue and Fraser Highway in Surrey, BC. This…
The amount personal injury lawyers can charge for a legal fee is regulated by the Law Society of British Columbia and lawyers are not free to charge whatever they want. Whether the lawyer decides to charge by the hour or based on a percentage, called a contingency fee, a lawyer cannot charge an amount that is…
In this offer to settle personal injury case(Bartel v. Milliken,2012 BCSC 971) the court makes it clear that withdrawing an offer does not weigh against the awarding of double costs. In this car accident personal injury case the injury claimant made an offer to settle her claim one week before the trial. The offer was not…