The time limits and paperwork that must be filed with ICBC are critical to your claim. Meeting deadlines and properly preparing your claim documents are two very important reasons to hire a lawyer to assist you. At a minimum, take the time to know what time limits affect your case. Don’t ignore them or you may find you have lost your right to pursue a claim for personal injury damages and benefits.
To protect your rights to ICBC Accident Benefits, you must report the accident to ICBC by calling Dial-a-Claim as soon as possible (preferably within 24-48 hours after the accident). Note that what you say to ICBC will be recorded and passed on to the ICBC adjuster assigned to your claim file.
Dial-a-Claim is open 24/7:
Lower Mainland: 604 520 8222
Rest of BC or outside the province: 1 800 910 4222
You will be asked to make an appointment to see an ICBC adjuster (if you are injured) and an ICBC estimator (if there is damage to your vehicle).
DO NOT be rushed into taking the first available appointment. Give yourself time to obtain legal advice and seek medical treatment.
Get legal advice about your case BEFORE you talk with ICBC. Call us toll free at 604 534 6139 (24 hours).
We recommend that you contact us as soon as possible so that:
If we are representing you, we will take care of these details for you.
Provide ICBC with a written proof of claim under your auto insurance policy in the form authorized by ICBC (a Form CL-22).
You have 2 years from the date of the accident to start a law suit for damages against an
at-fault driver and 2 years to sue ICBC if they refuse to pay or stop paying Accident Benefits. It may be advisable to start a lawsuit early to preserve your rights and to encourage productive and fair settlement negotiations, keeping open the option of trial. Settlement negotiations can take place at any time up to a trial but you cannot rely on them to produce a satisfactory result in all cases, so we prefer to manage your case as if it will end up in court.
What follows is a general list of things which we advise our clients they should do.
Your Doctor: Cooperate with your doctor and focus on doing what you can to recover from your injuries. When you are injured in a motor vehicle collision, your first priority should be getting medical help for your injuries and to have them documented. If you did not go to the hospital at the time of the accident, it is very important that you have your injuries assessed by a medical professional as soon as possible following the accident and that you continue to see your doctor on a regular basis (at least once a month and more frequently if necessary) as long as you continue to have symptoms from your injuries. Frequency of visits will be more than once a month with most injuries.
The most important thing that you can do to assist us in the preparation of your case is to have good communications with your doctors and cooperate with the treatment plan they give you. It is important that you completely and accurately describe your symptoms, complaints and progress to your doctor and treatment providers at every visit. Don’t exaggerate but don’t down play your injuries or symptoms either.
Make sure your doctor writes down what you tell him or her about all your injuries in your clinical records. It is common for ICBC lawyers to get full copies of your clinical records and then argue that if your doctor did not record something on a particular office visit that you must have been ok. ICBC adjusters are more likely to accept your doctor’s description of your condition as objective medical evidence compared to what you may eventually tell ICBC’s legal counsel.
If your doctor is not recording what you tell him or her don’t be afraid to tell them why you want your symptoms recorded. If they continue to rush or skip writing down what you tell them, let us know. Similarly, if there is sudden improvement or deterioration in your condition we want to know that immediately.
If you stop seeing your doctor when you are still experiencing problems from your car accident you can expect that ICBC will take the position that you must have recovered from your injuries or they were so minor that it wasn’t necessary to keep seeing your doctor.
Be aware that you have an obligation to try to mitigate your damages by making sure that you follow the treatment advice of your doctors or treatment providers. It is not uncommon for ICBC to argue that your damages should be reduced because you did not follow recommended treatment. The argument goes that had you done so you would have recovered faster and more completely and therefore your damage award should be reduced for this “failure to mitigate.”
Recording your recovery progress: Use a daily journal to record the dates of your visit, who you saw, why you saw them and any treatment, instructions, or prescriptions you were given. Make sure to tell your doctor about ALL your symptoms whether they are physical (pain, limited mobility, discomfort) or mental (flash backs, anxiety, fear, depression, insomnia) at every visit. The reason you do this is so that your injuries are properly recorded in their clinical notes which form part of the clinical record of your accident. See Clinical Records for more information. At some point your family doctor will be required to provide a medical legal report that includes your treatment history, the complaints you made at each visit, a diagnosis of your injuries and an opinion on any long-term effects your injuries may have on your life.
For more information on journaling see Recovery Phase: Day to Day.
Your clinical records will be provided to the ICBC adjuster and ICBC defense lawyers will carefully review them for:
all of which may be argued to reduce your claim.
The recovery period, even for minor injuries, can be lengthy and it is not advisable to consider settlement offers while you are still in the process of recovering from your injuries. At a minimum, we recommend that you DO NOT entertain any settlement offers from ICBC until you and your doctor agree that you have recovered.
Other Health care and Rehabilitation Specialists: If you see any other doctor or health care professional (e.g., physiotherapist, chiropractor, registered massage therapist) tell us immediately and give their contact information to the paralegal assigned to your case. As with your family doctor, record the dates of your visits, who you saw, why you saw them and any treatment, instructions, or prescriptions you were given in your daily journal.
Collect all documents and physical evidence related to the accident. This would include the following:
Drivers licence and vehicle registration papers
Information related to the accident
Correspondence with ICBC:
Documents related to any traffic tickets or court proceedings associated with the accident
Non-ICBC Insurance documents
Employment information and documents:
Medical Expenses (All receipts from prescriptions and treatment)
Photographs and Diagrams
Keep any physical evidence from the accident. For example, items of clothing or personal items damaged in the accident. Save any casts, braces, traction or other medical devices or appliances. Also save your motorcycle or bicycle helmet if you hit your head.
