Settlement documents from previous claim need not be produced.
On October 15, 2015, the BC Supreme Court addressed a request to produce documents relating to the settlement of a previous personal injury claim in the prosecution of a subsequent claim. In Gamble v. Brown, 2015 BCSC 1873, the plaintiff was injured in a 2009 collision, brought a claim for damages and ultimately settled. She was then injured in a 2011 collision. In the current lawsuit the defendant requested broad production of the previous file information including “any mediation brief, settlement letter, file memo, communication or similar document”. The plaintiff agreed to produce...
read moreDiscount Rates and Present Day Values.
Discount rates are used to calculate the present day value of a loss of future income or cost of future care that is awarded as a lump sum in personal injury cases. The discount rate assumes that the lump sum will be invested and will earn enough income to create a sufficient stream of compensation for the injured party over the appropriate time frame, with the fund being fully exhausted at the end. This is one methodology of calculating and compensating future financial loss endorsed by the so-called 1978 “Trilogy” of catastrophic injury cases decided by the Supreme Court of...
read moreDelay not always a bar to a disability claim.
On September 21, 2015, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision to grant relief from forfeiture in Dube v. RBC Life Insurance Company, 2015 ONCA 641. Gregory Dube worked for a Community Housing Corporation in Windsor, Ontario. As a full-time employee, Dube was insured by RBC Life Insurance Co. against the risk of suffering a long-term disability. The RBC policy required claimants to submit proof of their claim to RBC within 90 days from the start of their disability, but granted an extra year to submit proof of the claim if they could not do so within 90 days. On May...
read moreInsurer punished for fraud allegation.
On September 18, 2015, a judge of the BC Supreme Court found that that unproven allegations of fraud can be used as a factor to minimize a successful party’s costs entitlement after beating a formal offer. In Gupta v. Doe the plaintiff was involved in three separate collisions and sued for damages. At trial the plaintiff was awarded just over $43,000. Priro to trial ICBC made several formal offers, the first at $90,000 and the last at $164,000. Having beaten their formal offer by a considerable margin ICBC asked for post offer costs. The Court agreed that ICBC was entitled to post offer...
read moreWorsening prognosis not enough to allow late DME.
On August 7, 2015, a master of the BC Supreme Court ruled that a plaintiff’s failure to recover from injuries is not enough for a defendant to secure a late defence medical exam. In Dzumhur v. Davoody, 2015 BCSC 1656, the plaintiff was injured in a a collision and sued for damages. In the course of the lawsuit the plaintiff served an expert report opining that the plaintiff ought to recover provided the injuries are responsive to recommended treatments. The defendant did not obtain a defence medical report and as the deadline approached for exchanging expert evidence the plaintiff served an...
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