Attorney General David Eby despises plaintiff injury lawyers. He’s squarely blamed us for ICBC’s “financial dumpster fire.” His accusation that we “strategically build the value of a claim” is derogatory, and unjustly labels all plaintiff lawyers as dishonest and unscrupulous. This is unconscionable. The true cause of ICBC’s “financial dumpster fire” is its own gross mismanagement, rising crash rates and past governments helping themselves to its profits.
Plaintiff lawyers protect and advocate for their clients. Huge costs could be avoided if ICBC dealt fairly with claimants. Instead, it denies the extent of injuries, denies treatment, and denies fair settlements. It treats injured victims like they’re going after compensation they don’t deserve.
Eby needs to turn his attention where it truly belongs. He should focus on the careless and distracted drivers who cause accidents. He should focus on the huge costs of hiring ICBC defence-biased doctors (hacks). He should focus on ICBC denying fault, rather than dealing fairly with injured claimants up front. He should focus on ICBC’s management to learn why the Corporation’s projected losses increased in a few short months from $300 million to a whopping $1.3 billion.
Did Eby demand some accountability? Think again. ICBC’s executives not only kept their jobs, but they were handsomely rewarded with enormous bonuses. Indeed, his plan of how to put out the fire was to turn to ICBC itself. Their solution? Increase premiums, impose a severe $5500 cap on injuries as of April 2019, and point an easy finger at plaintiff injury lawyers and judges. British Columbians pay heavily to be insured. We have the right to be compensated fairly if we’re in an accident. Time to get rid of the monopoly, scrap ICBC and open the doors to competition.
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