British Columbia Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Practice Manual

Practice Point

Everything you need to know about motor vehicle accident claims in BC

This publication is essential for: personal injury lawyers, insurance defence lawyers, and plaintiff lawyers.

Look no further for a manual that comprehensively covers motor vehicle accident (MVA) litigation in BC. Senior members of the bar call British Columbia Motor Vehicle Accident Claims the “go-to” resource for researching the extensive range of legal and practice issues that arise in MVAs. From commencing an action to subrogation, this manual gets you to pithy discussion of the key issues, forms, and cases related to your question quickly. Each year, leading members of BC’s plaintiff and defence bar select and analyze only the most significant new cases to include in the annual update.

With this resource, you will be able to:

  • understand the broad context of legal issues in MVA claims
  • efficiently get to the leading cases on MVA legal issues specific to your client’s case
  • conveniently refer to over 60 of the most commonly used MVA forms and precedents in one place

Buy your copy of this personal injury partner in practice today!

Features of the publication

  • complete set of forms and precedents
  • checklists
  • regular updates
  • tables of cases, statutes, and concordance
  • comprehensive index
  • convenient looseleaf format with tab indexing
  • online access to electronic version with hyperlinks to primary law

The 2025 Update includes:

  • discussion of Court of Appeal for British Columbia cases, including: counsel’s duty of utmost good faith to their client in the context of their retainer agreement; sufficiency of evidence relating to pre-existing conditions; and awards for future care costs set aside and remitted for redetermination and further analysis of specific care items
  • discussion of British Columbia Supreme Court cases referencing: litigation privilege; sufficiency of pleadings relating to punitive damages; standard for infants relating to contributory negligence; claims for psychological injury; awards for future loss of income earning capacity; contingencies in damages analysis; and evidentiary requirements relating to applications to exclude disbursements from overall disbursement limits
  • discussion of Civil Resolution Tribunal adjudications dealing with: evidentiary issues; “minor injuries” arising from motor vehicle accidents occurring on or after April 1, 2019; what constitutes “serious impairment” and “substantial inability to perform activities of daily living”
  • reminders in each chapter to consider the date of the accident to proceed under the appropriate legislative scheme

Editorial Board
James U. Buckley — Slater Vecchio LLP, Vancouver
Jaron Fegusson — Pacific Law Group, Vancouver
Karen E. Jamieson, KC — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Sandra M. Katalinic — Eyford Partners LLP, Vancouver
Nicole Kelly — Slater Vecchio LLP, Vancouver

Authors
John Bradbury — Bradbury Sippel, Nanaimo
Luke Dineley — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Jaron Fergusson — Pacific Law Group, Vancouver
Kaelyn Fountain — Eyford Partners LLP, Vancouver
Johanna Goosen — WorkSafeBC, Richmond
Ron Hatch — Public Guardian and Trustee of BC, Vancouver
Alecia Haynes — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Steven H. Heringa — Paine Edmonds LLP, Vancouver
Matthew Hinton — ICBC—Senior Counsel (Accident Benefits and Fraud), Vancouver
J. Derek James — Pacific Law Group, Vancouver
Karen E. Jamieson, KC — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Sandra M. Katalinic — Eyford Partners LLP, Vancouver
Anthony Leoni — Rice Harbut Elliott LLP, Vancouver
Maurice Mirosolin — Pacific Law Group, Vancouver
Farzana Mohamed — Mackoff Mohamed, Vancouver
Joel Morris — Harper Grey LLP, Vancouver
David Newell — Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal, Richmond
Vincent R.K. Orchard, KC — Vincent R. Orchard Law Corporation, Burnaby
Jimmy Peterson — Paine Edmonds LLP, Vancouver
Christopher Rivers — Civil Resolution Tribunal, Victoria
Kenneth H.N. Soe — Eyford Partners LLP, Vancouver
Sarah M. Walker — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Mary-Helen Wright — Pacific Law Group, Vancouver

Chapters

1. Preliminary Matters

2. Commencing and Defending an Action

3. Workers’ Compensation Considerations

4. Discovery

5. Part 7 Benefits and Enhanced Accident (Part 10) Benefits

6. Unidentified Motorists

7. Uninsured Motorists

8. Underinsured Motorist Protection

9. Optional Insurance Contracts

10. Defences

11. Out-of-province and Excess Automobile Insurance

12. Mediation, Summary Trial, and Settlement Conferences

13. Assessment of Damages

14. Family Compensation Claims

15. Settlements for Minors

16. Structured Settlements and Judgments

17. Costs and Interest

18. Recovery and Subrogation

19. Practice Before the Civil Resolution Tribunal: Motor Vehicle Accident Claims

Forms and Precedents

Checklists

Tables
Case Table
Statutes and Related Material Table
Index

Michael Slater, KCThe BC Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Practice Manual is an indispensable resource I use nearly every day. The online version lets you browse and search the whole manual quickly and easily, with links to the cases cited. This manual keeps me updated on recent case law and practice developments. It is my ‘partner in practice’ and my go-to resource for everything I need to know about personal injury litigation in BC.”

~ Michael Slater, KC, Slater Vecchio LLP

Alison Murray, KC“The BC Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Practice Manual is rightfully known as ‘the bible for personal injury lawyers’. I have practised personal injury law for 35 years and still consult it weekly. The only frustrating part is that even though we have two copies at my firm of six lawyers, I can never find it in our library, because it is always in someone else’s office being used! You should not practice personal injury law without this manual, even if you’re not doing car accident claims.”

~ Alison Murray, KC, Murray Jamieson Barristers & Solicitors