Calculating personal injury damages is a double-edged sword in BC. One the one hand it's nearly impossible to know early in a claim what the personal injury claim is worth.
On the other hand, in my view, it's good that calculating personal injury claims in BC is impossible to do early in a claim because that is indicative of the fact that BC is NOT no-fault jurisdiction.
What does no-fault mean?
No-fault means that damages and compensation for personal injury (usually restricted to personal injury from motor vehicle accidents) is based on a chart. X injury results in $Y amount compensation. Each injury results in a set amount of compensation.
Many jurisdictions have gone over to a no-fault system, only to compensate injured victims (those who are not at fault) inadequately (in my opinion).
In BC there is a no-fault scheme with the Workers' Compensation system. Being familiar with this system, there are no shortage of people who are not pleased with the compensation they receive after injuries, especially more serious injuries.
In a nutshell, no-fault compensatory schemes give all the decision-making power to the insurance company. Seldom do cases go to Court for 2 reasons:
The Court has little or no discretion to vary a no-fault compensatory scheme because the amounts are set out in legislation; and
There are very few personal injury lawyers available to take on cases by contingency because the no-fault scheme effectively eliminates the opportunity for injured victims to take their claim to a Court.
Therefore, the fact that calculating personal injury damages in BC is difficult, if not impossible early in a claim, is in my view a good element of the BC personal injury system.
That said, it can be helpful for injured victims to get a better understanding how personal injury damages are assessed in theory. Read this great article that explains how to calculate personal injury ICBC claims in British Columbia to see in theory and the approach used in BC to assess personal injury claims (including claims stemming from motor vehicle accidents)>
Friday, December 9, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Wage Loss After a Car Accident in BC
In my experience working with injured car accident victims, many people never fully realize how important a steady income paycheque is until you don't get it anymore.
When paycheques stop, it can be frightening. Debt piles up quickly, payments are skipped, lifestyle and standard of living plummets. In general, even taking 4 weeks off work can have devastating financial consequences to anyone.
Yet, this is what happens to car accident victims. They're hurt and can't work. Unless they have extensive private disability insurance, obtaining wage loss benefits while recovering isn't always so easy. That said, there are several options for injured car accident victims in BC to get some form of wage loss relief while recovering from a car accident.
Please keep in mind that the following information for wage loss primarily pertains to people who are not at fault for the car accident in BC. This BC wage loss after a car accident article is really good in setting out options for financial relief after a car accident. It methodically goes through many options and how to go about applying for the type of financial relief.
Also, it's important to note that the above mentioned article, which is on the BC Personal Injury Lawyer website (a huge BC personal injury law resource), is all about wage loss immediately after the car accident. It doesn't go into the details about claiming for all lost wages in the lawsuit (tort action) against the at-fault driver. Full compensation is often possible, but it's not paid until the injury claim resolves.
When paycheques stop, it can be frightening. Debt piles up quickly, payments are skipped, lifestyle and standard of living plummets. In general, even taking 4 weeks off work can have devastating financial consequences to anyone.
Yet, this is what happens to car accident victims. They're hurt and can't work. Unless they have extensive private disability insurance, obtaining wage loss benefits while recovering isn't always so easy. That said, there are several options for injured car accident victims in BC to get some form of wage loss relief while recovering from a car accident.
Please keep in mind that the following information for wage loss primarily pertains to people who are not at fault for the car accident in BC. This BC wage loss after a car accident article is really good in setting out options for financial relief after a car accident. It methodically goes through many options and how to go about applying for the type of financial relief.
Also, it's important to note that the above mentioned article, which is on the BC Personal Injury Lawyer website (a huge BC personal injury law resource), is all about wage loss immediately after the car accident. It doesn't go into the details about claiming for all lost wages in the lawsuit (tort action) against the at-fault driver. Full compensation is often possible, but it's not paid until the injury claim resolves.
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