BC Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Practice Manual

Get results in a motor vehicle accident claim whether acting for the insured or insurer!

This publication is essential for: personal injury and insurance defence and plaintiff lawyers.

Current to: March 1, 2015

The BC Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Practice Manual is your guide to bringing or defending a motor vehicle accident claim in British Columbia. Written and reviewed by leading members of the plaintiff and defence bar, this comprehensive guide covers all important topics that may arise in an action and is essential to your practice.

With this resource, you will have:

• analysis of the latest law on the range of topics in a motor vehicle claim
• practice tips on how to deal with substantive and procedural issues in the claim
• the forms and precedents you need, available as downloads or on a CD
• convenient checklists on procedures to follow
• annual updates

Online access conveniently places this resource at your fingertips and is fully searchable with links to full-text cases and legislation.

ONLINE ONLY annual subscriptions are available. Subscribe now.

Highlights of the 2015 update

• includes a description of factors to consider when making an election to bring a tort action rather than claims compensation under the Workers’ Compensation Act
• includes discussion of all significant British Columbia Court of Appeal and British Columbia Supreme Court decisions over the past year, including cases on the following themes
  • the general duty of honest performance in all contracts, including contracts for insurance
  • the time limit for ICBC to reject claims for specific benefits under s. 96(f) of the Regulation and the onus and evidentiary burden for availability or not of paid or recoverable expenses from other insurers, hospital plan, or law
  • the evidentiary burden on the party asserting document privilege and protection of trade secrets
  • the number of representatives that can attend an examination for discovery, circumstances under which more examinations by different specialists will be allowed, and the significance of consenting to further physical examinations
  • the scope of the implied undertaking of confidentiality and the exception to settlement privilege when standard confidentiality terms exist in a mediation
  • appeals from commercial arbitration awards are confined to questions of law and fact
  • the expert’s function is to provide the trier of fact with a ready-made inference from the facts to be proven at trial
  • the evidentiary burden on a defence of contributory negligence in pedestrian accidents
  • compulsory universal automobile insurance makes contracting out of liability for damages suffered in a motor vehicle accident contrary to public policy
  • the “but for” test in law vs. medicine and clarification of causation generally
  • the reasonableness of awarding fees for investment advice to obtain a real rate of return
  • the entitlement to the various types and scales of costs
• all features, including Chapter Commentary, and Case and Statute Tables, are current to March 1, 2015

CLEBC Legal Editor
Morag MacLean
mmaclean@cle.bc.ca

CONTENTS
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Forms and Precedents
I. Preliminary Matters
II. Commencing an Action
III. Workers' Compensation
IV. Discovery
V. Part 7 Benefits
VI. Unidentified Motorists
VII. Mediation, Settlement Conferences, Fast Track Litigation, and Small Claims Court
VIII. Family Compensation Claims
IX. Settlements for Minors
X. Structured Settlements and Judgments
XI. Recovery and Subrogation

Checklists

Limitation Periods

Tables

Table of Concordance

Statute Table

References

Subject Index

Editorial Board
Guy P. Brown, QC — Harper Grey LLP, Vancouver
Sandra M. Katalinic — Quinlan Abrioux, Vancouver
Alison L. Murray, QC — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Michael J. Slater, QC — Slater Vecchio LLP, Vancouver
Donald W. Yule, QC — Guild Yule LLP, Vancouver

Ian D. Aikenhead, QC — Aikenhead Moscovich & Jones, Vancouver
Russell J. Bailey — Guild Yule LLP, Vancouver
Guy P. Brown, QC — Harper Grey LLP, Vancouver
Nicole Cederberg — Heath Law LLP, Vancouver
Daniel F. Corrin — Webster and Associates, Richmond
Laurel M. Courtenay — WorkSafeBC, Richmond
Luke Dineley — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Robert A. Easton — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver
Philippa Estall — Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, Vancouver
C. Richard Fister — Swadden & Company, Vancouver
Steven H. Heringa — Paine Edmonds LLP, Vancouver
Jonathan L.S. Hodes — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver
Christopher J. Hope — Lindsay LLP, Vancouver
J. Derek James — Quinlan Abrioux, Vancouver
Karen E. Jamieson — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Sandra M. Katalinic — Quinlan Abrioux, Vancouver
Julie K. Lamb — Guild Yule LLP, Vancouver
Scott Macfarlane — ICBC Corporate Law Department, North Vancouver
Alison L. Murray, QC — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Vincent R.K. Orchard, QC — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Christopher J. Trueman — Paine Edmonds LLP, Vancouver
James D. Vilvang, QC — Richards Buell Sutton LLP, Vancouver
Donald W. Yule, QC — Guild Yule LLP, Vancouver