Personal Injury
We act on behalf of clients in various types of personal injury claims, including motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, and medical malpractice claims. Our lawyers have strong litigation and mediation skills, and broad experience in many types of personal injury situations, including brain injury.
Learning your legal rights and obligations is an essential first step for a fair resolution of a personal injury claim.
Most personal injury cases involve motor vehicle accidents, and they comprise of most of our personal injury practice. If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident, it is important to obtain legal advice, preferably before making a formal claim to ICBC. Unbiased legal advice about your rights and obligations can protect your claim, protect your privacy, and make fair resolution of your claim more likely.
Although you must report an accident to ICBC as soon as possible, you can and should talk to a lawyer before you give a statement to ICBC. Statements that are unintentionally misleading or incomplete could potentially be used by ICBC to prejudice your claim.
It is always wise to be aware of your interests and how they are being protected. If you have been the victim of a car accident, bear in mind that ICBC, like any other insurance company, wishes to minimize as far as possible the number and size of the claims it pays out. That focus will often conflict with an accident victim’s legitimate interest in receiving full and fair compensation. Given this conflict between the interests of ICBC and the interests of an injured person, independent legal advice is essential for a person who has been injured in a motor vehicle accident.
The amount and type of compensation you may be entitled to will depend on various considerations, including the nature of your injury, and who was at fault. Examples of some types of compensation are wage loss benefits, rehabilitation and medical care costs, costs of future care, loss of earning capacity, and compensation for pain and suffering. If you are dealing with an injury, you may not be aware of all the benefits to which you are legally entitled, certain benefits you should have may be inappropriately restricted, or you may be offered an inadequate settlement amount. You may feel pressured to accept an inadequate settlement, unaware of how to enforce your rights.
We provide legal advice to allow you to make informed decisions about your claim, once you know the compensation and benefits to which you are entitled.
If you are in a car accident, get the name, address, and driver’s licence number of the other driver and the licence plate number of the other vehicle. If there are witnesses to the accident, write down their names and addresses. Report the accident to the police. If you have been injured call an ambulance, or go to your doctor or the emergency department. Report your claim to ICBC Dial-A-Claim by calling 1-800-910-4222.
Contact us at the Genesis Law Group at 250 475 0775, for a free initial consultation.