Injured Claimant NOT blamed for being overweight

As we have discussed in prior ICBC duty to mitigate blog posts, injured claimants have a legal duty to mitigate their injuries and losses from motor vehicle accidents.  In other words, injured claimants have an obligation and a responsibility to take reasonable steps to minimize their losses such as by following medical advice.  If it…

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Vancouver ICBC Lawyer – ICBC Blaming the Victim for Declining Surgery and the Duty to Mitigate

As outlined in a previous blog post, injured claimants have a legal duty to mitigate their injuries and losses from motor vehicle accidents.  In other words, injured claimants have a legal responsibility to take reasonable steps to minimize their injuries and losses.  In ICBC cases, an injured claimant’s duty to mitigate often relates to decisions…

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ICBC Claims – Duty to Mitigate and to Follow Medical Advice

Injured claimants have a legal duty to mitigate their injuries and losses from motor vehicle accidents. What this means is that injured claimants have an obligation and responsibility to take reasonable steps to minimize their losses such as by following medical advice.  If it is proven that an injured claimant failed to mitigate their injuries…

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Cocaine Use After Car Accident Reduces Injury Award

This car accident claimant had his injury claim reduced by 20% for failing to follow medical advice and abusing Percocet and cocaine, which interfered with his recovery. The claimant was riding his motorcycle west on Marine Way in Burnaby, BC  approaching a strip mall known as Market Crossing when a  vehicle in the lane beside him changed…

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Two Rear-End Accidents Atop Disc Disease Assessed at $507,000

In this multiple car accident personal injury case the claimant was rear-ended twice and developed a chronic soft tissue pain condition. He sought an award of over $1 million and  ICBC, the defendant insurer, was only prepared to pay $143,000. The insurer argued unsuccessfully that the claimant should be forced to attend active rehabilitation and his claim…

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75% Reduction for Failure to Mitigate Injury Set Aside

Sometimes it is obvious in a car accident case when a jury does not like a litigant. Although after 22 days of trial, the jury found the City of Surrey negligent for failing to adequately maintain the snowy roadway, they found the claimant 75% contributorily negligent. The jury also reduced her award by a further 75% on a…

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ICBC Claimant to Blame for Alcoholism not Impecuniosity

ICBC arguments on the failure to attend recommended treatment, mitigation,  are often narrow and focused, as displayed in the following $150,000 pain and suffering injury case. ICBC argued that prior substance abuse should result in a low award but the BC Supreme Court decided this ICBC case was worth over $720,000. The car accident was a head-on collision on…

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Reduction in Pain and Suffering Award for Failure to Mitigate

This injury claimant’s failure to follow medical advice resulted in a 10% reduction in the award for pain and suffering. The claimant was stopped at a red light at East 49th Avenue and Knight Street in Vancouver when his vehicle was rear-ended.  The court found that he suffered soft tissue injuries to his neck, back and right shoulder. In reducing…

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Injury Victim called “Crumbling Skull” gets New Trial

In a short but forceful unanimous three panel decision, the Court of Appeal has rung the death knell for the term “crumbing skull” to describe physical and mental conditions that may deteriorate in the future (Gordon v. Ahn,2017 BCCA 221). Other similar terms used by the court in the past include “psychological thin skull”, “eggshell personality” and “eggshell skull”.…

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Causation Conflated with Mitigation in Chronic Pain Case

  A principal issue in this car accident injury appeal was whether the trial judge erred in finding that the claimant had failed to mitigate.  The symptoms of chronic pain having been conclusively established by the finding of causation, ICBC failed to prove that she had failed to mitigate her injuries (Park v. Targonski,2017 BCCA 134). The court…

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