The personal injury case I review involved a low velocity motor vehicle accident on the Fraser Highway in which the Judge concluded that no injury had been established (2014 BCSC 2135) . The Claimant had a history of addiction, abused both street and prescription narcotics, endured a catastrophic industrial accident and significant injuries prior to the car accident. At the time of his trial the Claimant was serving a 2 ½ year sentence for the robbery of a pharmacy. Not a star Claimant.
As a result of his prior injury and incarceration, wage loss was not a serious issue in the case. The lack of a working history prior to and after the car accident was an obvious factor working against the Claimant. However, and more importantly, the claim was wholly reliant on the Claimant’s credibility and reliability. The Judge did not find the Claimant to have been a credible or reliable witness, and gave his evidence very little weight.
The Claimant was not accurate with his doctors about prior and subsequent injuries and drug use. I, of course, do not want anyone to lose their personal injury case so the following list should be avoided and please talk to a lawyer about your case.
From a review of this case decision I’ve come up with 5 things you can do to lose your personal injury case:
(a) Tell your family doctor nothing about the nature of the car accident, such as the speed of the vehicles involved or the damage to the vehicles involved;
(b) Don’t tell your doctor about work injuries and don’t give access to the WorkSafeBC file or any emergency or other hospital records;
(c) Do not report abuse of opiates and experiences with methadone treatment programs prior to the motor vehicle accident;
(d) Fail to tell the family doctor about experiencing chronic low back pain before the accident; and
(e) Fail to tell the family doctor about subsequent injuries, such as being run over by an off-duty police officer and blows to the head resulting in unconsciousness.
Posted By Vancouver Personal Injury Lawyer Mr. Renn A. Holness. B.A. LL.B.
