Several times in the last year, Jacqueline Small of our firm has been interviewed by Canadian Lawyer on current trends and trial decisions that impact the area of injury law in British Columbia. We are proud to stay ahead of the curve and to remain up to date on the law. We believe this is…
In Zhang v. 328633 BC Ltd. 2020 BCSC 1521, the injured claimant sought damages for injuries she suffered in 2 motor vehicle accidents. In the first motor vehicle accident, she was rear-ended and ICBC admitted fault. In the second motor vehicle accident, she was a passenger in a transit bus. An unidentified driver tried to…
Surveillance is one of the main tools ICBC uses to investigate ICBC injury claims. While some level of investigation is important to verify ICBC injury claims, in reality ICBC often uses surveillance to uncover evidence to discredit injured claimants and attack their claims. To this end, ICBC routinely hires private investigators to follow and videotape…
A personal injury lawyer’s duty to guard confidentiality and to serve the best interest of the client is recognized in this Court of Appeal decision : Nuttall v. K.,2018 BCCA 341. The lawyer successfully appealed a special costs order against him for adding a party to a hit and run personal injury claim, which was found later…
In this slip and fall lawsuit there was mixed success on the defendant’s application for production of records of the treating psychiatrist. However, it was the award of costs against the claimant’s lawyer which is of note: [19] I am deeply troubled by the positions plaintiff’s counsel took on this application, including seeking an order for…
This married couple went to court with no lawyer for personal injuries arising from three car accidents. Liability for the car accidents were admitted and both claimants contended they were incapacitated and permanently affected by their injuries. Following a 13 day trial the claimants were awarded very little, under $30,000 each after deductions ( Ma. v. Haniak, 2017 BCSC 549 ). ICBC…
In this civil claim against the Province the claimant was awarded over $8 million for his wrongful conviction and subsequent incarceration. Crown Counsel failed in its duty of disclosure by intentionally withholding relevant information despite repeated requests. Wrongful non-disclosure seriously infringed the claimant’s right to a fair trial. The court also found that if there had been proper disclosure…
ICBC has been stung with paying a car accident victim $155,340.86 in legal fees for failing to disclose a video showing her weakened and being taken away by ambulance! ICBC, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, disclosed to the jury only videos showing the claimant being active and disregarded a court order requiring disclosure of all videos in what seems…
Baffled, the Court was forced to award special costs after ICBC settled a personal injury case yet refused to pay costs. Lawyer Jacqueline Small obtained $2,000 in special costs and costs thrown away due to ICBC failure to response to a simple Bill of Costs. ICBC’s lawyer had failed to respond to the Bill of Costs…
When this personal injury decision came out awarding $36,042.30 I called it A Case Study into What Not to Do in an ICBC Injury Claim. The ICBC claimant had sought an award of damages exceeding $2 million and after 33 days in trial almost all of the claims of loss were dismissed. In this follow up decision the Judge awarded ICBC…