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 2022 Update includes:

  • revised material throughout to reflect relevant developments since the previous update (February 15, 2022)
  • extensive discussion of amendments to the Insurance (Vehicle) Act and the enactment of corresponding regulations related to the no-fault regime, including:
    • the impact of Part 11—Basic Vehicle Damage and Limits on Actions and Proceedings, and exceptions thereto, on the availability of recovery for bodily injury
    • new material introducing Part 10—Enhanced Accident Benefits and Limits on Actions and Proceedings, and the Enhanced Accident Benefits Regulation
    • the availability of underinsured motorist protection coverage for motor vehicle accidents that occurred after May 1, 2021
    • the impact of the no-fault regime on recovery and subrogation
    • the jurisdiction of the Civil Resolution Tribunal (the “CRT”) to make determinations with respect to matters within the no-fault regime
  • discussion of notable cases and decisions from the previous year that cover various topics, such as the bases for awarding increased costs, common pitfalls when pleading punitive damages, the scope of document production in the context of the increasing use of electronic records, and what constitutes a “measurable risk” when making contingency deductions in cases involving pre-existing conditions

Editorial Board
James U. Buckley — Slater Vecchio LLP, Vancouver
Kerry Grieve — Pacific Law Group, Vancouver
Sandra M. Katalinic — Eyford Macaulay Shaw & Padmanabhan LLP, Vancouver
Marc Kazimirski — KazLaw Injury Lawyers, Vancouver
Alison L. Murray, KC — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver

Authors
Ian D. Aikenhead, KC — AMJ Law, Vancouver
Jordan Bank — Guild Yule LLP, Vancouver
John Bradbury — Bradbury Sippel, Nanaimo
Luke Dineley — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Steven H. Heringa — Paine Edmonds LLP, Vancouver
Matthew Hinton — ICBC—Senior Counsel (Accident Benefits and Fraud), Vancouver
Jonathan L.S. Hodes — Miller Thomson LLP, Vancouver
J. Derek James — QA Law, Vancouver
Karen E. Jamieson — Murray Jamieson, Vancouver
Sandra M. Katalinic — Eyford Macaulay Shaw & Padmanabhan LLP, Vancouver
Anthony Leoni — Rice Harbut Elliott LLP, Vancouver
Maurice Mirosolin — Pacific Law Group, 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
Daniel Orsetti — Public Guardian and Trustee of BC, Vancouver
Ryan W. Parsons — Eyford Partners LLP, Vancouver
Jimmy Peterson — Paine Edmonds LLP, Vancouver
Nicholas W. Peterson — Collins Peterson LLP, Vancouver
Andrew Roznicki — Consultant—Workers’ Compensation, Richmond
Kenneth H.N. Soe — Guild Yule LLP, Vancouver
Michael Thomas — Harper Grey LLP, 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

6. Unidentified Motorists

7. Uninsured Motorists

8. Underinsured Motorist Protection

9. Optional Insurance Contracts

10. Defences

11. Out-of-Province and Excess 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

Limitation Periods

Table of Concordance

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