Since May of 2021, the Provincial Government of BC has changed the law so that all ICBC personal injury claims (i.e. all injury claims arising from motor vehicle accidents) are now subject to a “no fault” system similar to WCB claims and the injured victims of car accidents have been stripped of their rights to pursue a legal claim for fair compensation. Injured victims are no longer entitled to compensation for pain and suffering. The only claims still available are for coverage for medical treatments and income loss claims, but these claims are now much more limited.
As a result of these changes, there is no role for lawyers in most ICBC injury claims anymore and we no longer take such cases except in certain specific and rare exceptions. We do still take personal injury cases arising from non car accident related causes.
If you think these changes are unfair, we encourage you to talk to your local MLA. We are hearing more and more stories of people being left financially destitute due to these unfair changes and the reality is we all effectively have much less coverage under our car insurance for injuries than we used to have, but ICBC and the BC government has kept most of the additional profit. For instance, in the 2024/2025 fiscal year, ICBC made a net income of approximately $1.65 billion dollars. Keep in mind, ICBC was originally incorporated as a Crown Corporation to provide affordable insurance to BC citizens and to be a break-even enterprise, not a government cash cow.
Nick de Dominico, one of ICBC’s first adjusters and then a long-time mediator, now retired, has written a history of ICBC explaining how we got here that can be explored at the following link: Home | ICBCHx