Legislation to limit ICBC minor injury payouts face legal challenge
Posted May 10, 2018 7:06 pm.
Last Updated May 10, 2018 7:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Lawyers worried about insurance compensation being capped at $5,500 for minor injuries are threatening legal action against the provincial government.
That cap was announced earlier this year after Attorney General David Eby described the financial situation at ICBC as a “dumpster fire,” and introduced the figure to help clear the more than $1 billion of debt at the insurance corporation.
However, Ron Nairne, who co-chairs the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, says legislation slated to take effect in April of next year is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
“Just because of physical injury, one group is being denied full compensation, another is still granted access to it. If this proceeds unchanged, the expectation would be that we would seriously consider litigation once this comes into effect next year.”
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If the legislation passes, the personal injury lawyer says the provincial government will be able to dictate how doctors assess crash victims and what constitutes a “minor injury.”
“It’s not at all clear that it will be the claimant’s individual family doctor and right now, the way the system works in Alberta, is to say that the family doctor or any other treating doctor is not allowed to make decisions about whether an injury is minor or not.”
Nairne is also asking for an independent review to determine how bad ICBC is in debt.
“It’s not a matter of people either don’t get compensated or people’s premiums have to go up by 400 dollars. We don’t know exactly what ICBC’s true financial picture is. Everybody seems to be accepting that they’re $1.3 billion in the red right now.”
He understands why many would assume litigators don’t support these changes aimed at reducing rising court-related costs.
“There is no question that lawyers do have an interest in all of this. We see on a daily basis these folks with these injuries that are life-changing and that’s all lawyers are doing is looking to ensure that people get fair compensation — not a windfall.”
Back in January, ICBC painted a grim picture of its finances, saying it couldn’t keep up with the current trend and that net claims were costing too much money.
