At Paine Edmonds LLP, we are an experienced ICBC lawyer in Vancouver who handles personal injury claims, including:
Our team of Metro Vancouver personal injury lawyers, case managers, and paralegals will navigate and support you through the process of your personal injury claim and work tirelessly to make sure you get the compensation you are entitled to.
With our team’s extensive experience, we routinely handle a wide range of injury cases including the following:
Please see below to learn how we help simplify the injury claims process for you in 5 easy steps.
- “I just had a car accident! What do I do?”
- First and foremost, stay calm and don’t panic. If anyone is injured, call 9-1-1 for assistance. However, please be aware that if immediate medical attention is not required, most often emergency services (i.e. police and paramedics) will not attend the scene.
Get to a safe place! You will need to record the other driver’s AND owner’s information (remember, the driver and owner may not be the same).
Write down the following:
- Licence plate number, year, make, and model of each vehicle
- Names, addresses, and driver’s licence numbers
- Names and address of the owners of the vehicles
- Names of your insurance companies
Get the names and contact information of any witnesses to the accident.
Next, you will need to WRITE DOWN some important information:
- The location of the accident, such as the street name and intersection
- The direction of travel of each vehicle
- The time of day the accident happened
- If possible, use the camera on your cell phone to take photographs of the damage to each vehicle, the accident scene and any important details such as skid-marks on the roadway
If the police attended, make sure to ask the attending officer for the police file number (they’ll often write it down on a business card).
- “I’m injured. Now what do I do?”
- Seek immediate medical attention (i.e. hospital, your family doctor, or a walk-in clinic) so your injuries can be assessed and documented by a medical professional.
- “Do I have to report the accident?”
- Yes, you MUST contact your insurance company and inform them of the accident as soon as possible. Call ICBC’s Dial-a-Claim at 604.520.8222 in the Lower Mainland or 1.800.910.4222. Make sure you have the details of the accident that you recorded earlier close at hand. The ICBC representative will ask you for information about the accident and the parties involved. At the end of your call to Dial-a-Claim, you will receive an ICBC claim number. Make sure you write this down for future reference.
- “Do I have to go to ICBC in person?”
- That depends.
If your vehicle is damaged and needs to be repaired then you can make an appointment to meet with a vehicle damage estimator at ICBC when you first call Dial-a-Claim.
If you are injured, the Dial-a-Claim representative will ask you to come in to an ICBC claim centre to meet with a bodily injury adjuster to discuss your injury claim.
We highly recommend that you seek legal advice before discussing your injury claim with an adjuster either in phone or in person. If you retain a lawyer, you do not have to meet with the adjuster because your lawyer can handle the rest for you.
- “What about signing a written statement to ICBC?”
- The law says that you must deliver a written report on the accident with particulars of the circumstances of the accident as well as the consequences of the accident not more than 30 days from the date of the accident. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO GIVE A SIGNED STATEMENT to ICBC which could be used both for and against you later in the claims process.
Again, we highly recommend that you call us at Paine Edmonds and have a lawyer provide ICBC with written notice of the accident, its circumstances and consequences.
- “Are there any other documents or forms I should fill out for ICBC?”
- Yes.
ICBC provides motorists and passengers injured in motor vehicle accidents with “Part 7 Benefits.” These are a form of “no-fault” benefits available to most claimants regardless of who was at fault for a motor vehicle accident. Most of the time, these benefits are used for physical therapy, medication costs, and wage loss.
In order to get Part 7 Benefits, you will need to fill out a form called a “CL-22” or Accident Benefits Application Form, and provide ICBC with a written report of the accident. Again, we highly recommend that you seek legal advice so that a lawyer can help you apply for these benefits. Do not hesitate to call or contact us at Paine Edmonds if you need help filling out your ICBC forms.
- “Will ICBC pay me the full amount of my treatment?”
- This is often the biggest source of confusion for people dealing with an ICBC injury claim. Normally, ICBC only pays for a portion of your treatment costs under your Part 7. Think of it as a limited, extended medical insurance included with your ICBC insurance policy. As such, you will usually have to cover the extra cost of treatment – the “user fee” – on your own.
If you are not at fault for the accident and have an injury claim against the other driver, you can claim for these user fees when you settle your personal injury claim at a later date.
If you have extended medical insurance (e.g. through your employment or your spouse’s employment), you can submit your expenses to them for reimbursement. Be aware that extended health insurance is considered “primary insurance,” while ICBC benefits are considered “secondary insurance.”
- “How much is my claim worth?”
- That depends on a number of factors. The reality is that assessing the value of your claim is something that takes time. After all, at the beginning of your claim, you simply don’t know how long your injuries will last or how much recovery you are going to get. Again, at Paine Edmonds we will never rush your claim. We almost always advise a “wait-and-see” approach to your recovery.
Nevertheless, some things to consider are:
- Who was at fault for the accident and to what degree
- The kinds of injuries you suffered in the motor vehicle accident
- The amount of treatment, and the costs of the treatments, you received for your accident-related injuries
- The degree to which you have recovered from your injuries
- Whether you have been left totally or partially disabled as a result of your accident-related injuries
- The extent of your loss of income
- The amount of your out of pocket expenses
- “What if one or both drivers were working at the time of the accident?”
- If you are both clearly working at the time of the accident (i.e. you are both couriers en route making deliveries), you will both be restricted to making claims to WorkSafeBC.
If you were working at the time, but the other driver was not, you are entitled to choose between making a claim with ICBC or WorkSafeBC (see below).
Unfortunately, some cases are not so clear as to whether someone is considered to be “working.” For instance, grey areas often arise when someone is on their way home, going to work, or on a lunch break. There are many factors that can affect this determination so it is best to seek legal advice before making your accident report to ICBC or WorkSafeBC so that all necessary facts and details are provided.
In any case, if you were working at the time of the accident, submit an application to WorkSafeBC in order to preserve your right to future benefits. Make sure your application is submitted as soon as possible before the deadline to submit claims to WorkSafeBC.
- “Do I need a lawyer to help me with my motor vehicle accident?”
- It depends. Some people injured in car accidents may not need a lawyer. These are usually minor claims with little injury. Our lawyers at Paine Edmonds will never pressure you to hire us. We will give you a straightforward opinion on whether or not you would benefit from hiring us to represent you.
However, keep in mind that ICBC adjusters are experienced professionals whose job is to minimize the amounts paid out on injury claims. We believe that the majority of claimants will have a better outcome if they are represented by an experienced personal injury trial lawyer.
- “Do I need to pay up-front if I hire a lawyer at Paine Edmonds to help me with my ICBC claim?”
- No. We work strictly on a contingency fee basis. We collect our legal fees when your claim is settled and not before.
Furthermore, we will not bill you for disbursements, or the firm’s out of pocket expenses, until we have collected from ICBC.
- “How long will it take before my claim is settled?”
- The time to settlement varies from file to file. At Paine Edmonds, we never rush our clients’ claims. We believe that it is of the utmost importance to make sure we know the extent of our client’s injuries, both in terms of diagnosis and future prognosis. This takes time! Therefore, generally speaking, we tell clients to expect their claim to take 1 to 2 years to complete.
- “Is my ICBC claim likely to go to trial?”
- The first thing to be aware of is that the limitation date for filing a lawsuit for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident in BC is 2 years. We may start the legal action sooner, but a lawsuit rarely happens right away. In any case, approximately 9 out of 10 claims never get to trial. At Paine Edmonds we always try to settle your case, either informally or through a voluntary mediation before resorting to trial.
However, if we simply cannot reach an agreeable settlement with ICBC, we will not hesitate to proceed to trial and fight for our clients.
- “I have started an ICBC claim for my motor vehicle related injuries. Now what?”
- Medical Treatment:
Make sure you see your doctor on a regular basis while you have symptoms.
Make sure you are thorough when reporting your aches and pains to your doctor. We suggest you start at the top of your head and move systematically down your body each and every time you see your doctor.
Do the things your doctor advises you to do. For example, if your doctor advises physiotherapy, then make sure you make time to do it. If you do not, ICBC can use this “failure to mitigate your damages” when it comes time to settle your ICBC claim. Lastly, be patient. Remember, some injuries can be stubborn. Never assume that your injuries will go away completely before they have.
Out of Pocket Expenses:
Keep your receipts! If you are wondering whether a particular expense is something you can claim, ask yourself: “Would I be buying this if I had not been in a car accident?” If the answer is “No” then it is probably an expense you can claim.
Your lawyer:
Keep in regular contact with your lawyer. At Paine Edmonds we like to be in contact with our clients on a regular basis to find out how you are doing, and if there is anything new in your life that may affect your claim.
- “Why should I hire a lawyer at Paine Edmonds to help me with my ICBC claim?”
- That’s easy: because ICBC and personal injury claims are what we do.
We are experienced trial lawyers who take a team approach to dealing with your personal injury claim. We pride ourselves on our client-centred approach where your claim is never rushed. When you hire the lawyers at Paine Edmonds LLP, you can expect personal service and regular, first-hand contact with the lawyer working on your file.
