ON behalf of its more than 1,400 members across British Columbia, the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. (TLABC) announced on Monday that it is deeply disappointed with the Government of B.C.’s decision to table legislation to put caps on what the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) refers to as “minor injuries”.
“Time and time again in other provinces in Canada with similar legislation, we’ve seen people fall through the cracks of a cap system”, said TLABC President Sonny Parhar. “ICBC is not built to address the individual rights of those injured on B.C.’s roads, but to minimize compensation for injury claims.”
TLABC advocates on behalf of thousands of British Columbians who have been involved in collisions on B.C.’s roads. Hundreds of these cases would have been dismissed under the newly tabled legislation as “minor injuries” and support for their recovery would have been capped at lesser amounts than would have meaningfully aided in their recovery.
“From our perspective this is a rash and ill-conceived plan that is focused on covering up ICBC’s own ‘dumpster fire’ and will only serve to make injury claims that much more challenging for those injured in collisions”, said Parhar.
The TLABC has submitted reports to ICBC and the Government of B.C. on a number of occasions and has provided compelling evidence that capping injury claims will neither address ICBC’s mismanagement nor douse the “dumpster fire” it created.
“If ICBC can’t be trusted to provide reliable estimates about its own financial position, should British Columbians really trust ICBC to decide if they have a ‘minor’ injury that is worth practically nothing?” asked Sonny Parhar “To decide how much treatment, if any, they get for that injury?”
How is it legal to do that? We did not get to vote on that. I see no democracy on this subject. This is something China would do…