ICBC Tip-of-the-Month (August 2015): Top 10 Mistakes (#8)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #8: If A Friend, Relative, or Spouse Caused an Accident While You Are A Passenger 

People are often concerned with advancing an ICBC injury claim when their spouse, friend or relative was driving the vehicle.  They are worried about things like increasing their ICBC premiums and social pressures - "why are you hiring a lawyer to sue me?".

Firstly, ICBC will reduce the discount in any event, as the vehicle repairs will be considered a claim on the insurance policy. 

Secondly, in reality, your claim for injury and damages is with ICBC under the applicable insurance policy.  As long as there are no insurance coverage issues, they are not personally at risk. 

If you have any questions, always take advantage of a free initial consultation with an experiences ICBC personal injury lawyer.


Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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ICBC Tip-of-the-Month (July 2015): Top Ten Mistakes (#7)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #7: You Fail to Obtain a Work Capacity Evaluation

A Work Capacity Evaluation (also known as Functional Capacity Evaluation) can help prove your functional limitations at work and at home. 

ICBC will insist that you are able to return to full-time work or your finances may force you to return to work putting you at further risk of injury.  In these situations, this assessment can be invaluable in proving your claim. 

Seek legal advice if you find yourself in this position. Work Capacity Evaluations are expensive and they will require a good medical background, including all clinical records, consult reports, and medical opinions for the assessor to engage in a full and proper assessment. 

Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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ICBC Tip-of-the-Month (June 2015): Top 10 Mistakes (#6)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #6: You Attend an ICBC-Appointed Doctor Without Seeing Your Own Medical Specialist. 

ICBC often uses the same medical specialists. Sometimes, those specialists prepare written reports for ICBC that may well help your case, but you won't know this because ICBC claims privilege over the reports.  Those specialists may well prepare reports that hurt your case.  

Seek legal advice if ICBC asks you to see its chosen specialist. In 2014, these are examples of the doctors that ICBC often used:

• Dr. Martin Grypma (orthopaedic surgeon)
• Dr. Petar Kokan (orthopaedic surgeon)
• Dr. Rehan Dost (neurologist)
• Dr. Stephen Maloon (orthopaedic surgeon)
• Dr. Bishop (family doctor with interest in orthopaedics)
• Dr. Sovio (orthopaedic surgeon)
• Dr. Leith (orthopaedic surgeon)
• Dr. Reebye (orthopaedic surgeon)
• Dr. Levin (psychiatrist)

This information, along with other specialists used by ICBC can be found at ICBC's website where they detail their vendor payments. You can also compare the specialists MSP billings, which is readily available to the public. 



Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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ICBC Tip-Of-The-Month (May 2015): Top 10 Mistakes (#5)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #5: You Are Not Prepared For Your First Meeting With An ICBC Adjuster

The initial meeting with ICBC can be complicated and sets the foundation for your claim.  Before seeing ICBC, contact your doctor's office, physiotherapist or chiropractor and confirm that dates that you received treatments before the accident in relation to prior health problems.  ICBC is often looking for "the pre-existing condition" to diminish your current claim. See previous post on pre-existing conditions: click here. 

If you think you are partly at-fault for the collision, speak to an experienced ICBC personal injury lawyer immediately so they can prepare you for the initial interview or take over conduct of the matter to protect your interests. Failure to do this could jeopardize your claim. Getting yourself into a dispute about fault can be stick-handled better by a lawyer. 

Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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ICBC Tip-of-the-Month (April 2015): Top 10 Mistakes (#4)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #4: Your Doctor Does Not Examine You Regularly After Your Accident

It is extremely important that your doctor examine you fairly regularly during the initial period of significant pain, at least once per month (twice if possible).

If a significant injury is later discovered ie. rotator cuff tears, disc bulges, labral tears etc, then it can become difficult to obtain medical opinions connecting those injuries to the incident. Your family doctor may not support the case if he/she feels they didn't discover it earlier.  There is a medical presumption that the pain would have been severe enough to seek medical attention, which on examination, would have been discovered. 

If you notice sharp, significant pains, especially the kind that radiate to different body parts (from your neck to your arm to your fingers, or from your back to your leg to your toes) make sure it receives the right attention from your doctor and rehab professionals. Also push for an xray, CT scan, and/or MRI if necessary. These kinds of symptoms are neurological and require better investigation. It can often take a good heart to heart with your family doctor to get better investigations done.  

Of course, seek legal help from an from experienced ICBC personal injury lawyer. 

Perminder Tung 778-289-9513 ptung@lklaw.ca

Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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ICBC Tip-of-the-Month (March 2015): Top 10 Mistakes (#3)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #3: After Your ICBC Accident, You Are Examined At Different Walk-In Clinics

Try to find a family doctor.  The College of Physicians and Surgeon's website maintains a list of clinics taking on new patients (click here). 

If you can't find one, then chose one doctor at a single walk-in clinic and only see that doctor for the life of your injury claim. Check to see which shifts that doctor works and work around his/her schedule. 

WHY? In ICBC cases, it becomes important to seek an opinion from the attending physician. If you have been seen by a series of different doctors, that opinion can be very limiting.  Also, your injuries will have the attention of one caring physician, rather than a transient single visit.

Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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ICBC Tip-of-the-Month (February 2015): Top 10 Mistakes (#2)

TOP 10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN MAKING AN ICBC CLAIM

Mistake #2: You Do Not Get All The Treatments You Need

ICBC often stops funding treatments even though your family doctor supports further rehabilitation (massage, physiotherapy, chiropractor, active rehab etc.). For example, after the first 12 physiotherapy sessions, your doctor and physiotherapist support another round of 6-12 sessions. The handling ICBC adjuster denies ICBC coverage for the further sessions. The biggest mistake is that you stop attending physiotherapy because ICBC said so. 

You have a duty to mitigate your damages and ICBC is setting you up for failure, as they will later argue that you didn't follow the advice of your doctor and physiotherapist to get better. The court and ICBC will not buy the argument that "ICBC stopped approving the sessions, so I stopped going".  See previous post on the issue of mitigation: click here.

Advice: you have to either fund the rehab privately yourself and recover those expenses in your tort claim OR try to find a clinic that will give you a Direction to Pay. 

Direction to Pay: an agreement between you and the clinic that the clinic will advance the treatments on a running account and you recover the expenses once your claim settles, as long as you present their account as a special damage in your case. 

This area can get tricky and it is best to consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer, like Perminder S. Tung.

Do you have questions about your ICBC personal injury claim or accident?  If so, click here arrange your free consultation with  ICBC Claims Lawyer Perminder S. Tung (Services provided for ICBC injury claims throughout all of BC: Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Tri-city area and all over BC)

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