ICBC injury settlement guidelines need to be followed by any victim who had a car accident. Moreover, it is always better to communicate with a lawyer face-to-face or over the phone to clarify all the confusion. This is because all types of injuries do not get the same payout.
The significant and long-term damages are more likely to get a larger payout than the minor and short-term injuries. Have some time to be with us and know about the whole procedure with easy steps.
ICBC Injury Settlement Guidelines
ICBC claim settlements plan includes all the steps that you need to follow one by one without neglecting any. Moreover, these steps can help you to get the proper compensation that you are expecting. So, read the below points to know everything in detail.
1. Call 911
911 is the emergency number to get any type of help from the law enforcement team. Furthermore, they will reach the spot immediately once they get a call from a person for help. Therefore, if a person is severely injured and runs out of idea what to do in an instant, they just need to call 911 without any doubt.
2. Pursue Health Treatment
As the victim is sure to be injured, he needs to take the necessary medicals treatment as early as possible. Moreover, taking medical treatment and getting all the required documents will be proof to provide the ICBC telling that you have done everything to reduce your injury. This situation is termed as “Mitigating Damages.”
Remember, if you do not take necessary medical treatment on time, your compensation amount can be significantly reduced.
3. File a Report
Get your accident reported to the police or the law enforcement agency that replied to your scene. This step is essential because filing a report after an accident can help you to claim the compensation at the later part of the case.
4. Report The Incident to ICBC
Not only the police but also the ICBC needs to be notified via online or mobile phone about the defaulter party. But if you fail to do so, your compensation amount can be affected devastatingly.
5. Repair Your Vehicle
An employee from the ICBC will inform you within a month to assess your vehicle’s damage. It can be either at an ICBC-certified repair shop or in an individual. In the meantime, you may be enquired to give a recorded proclamation about your damages and the accident.
But before this session, take advice from an experienced lawyer like what specific information needs and needs not to be shared with the ICBC.
6. File for No-Fault Benefits
After an accident, no matter who the defaulter was, the victim is sure to get a Basic Autoplan coverage of around $150,000 for recovery and medical expenses. Moreover, the victim can also receive paybacks for lost incomes, homemaker paybacks, and death paybacks. Therefore, to get all these, the victim must claim a file to the ICBC within a month of the accident.
7. File a Misdeed Claim Against The Responsible Driver
If it seems like another driver is also at fault or responsible for even your accident at the slightest amount, you can indeed file a misdeed claim for reparation. Basically, this claim is totally different from the no-fault benefits that fall under the “Basic Autoplan coverage.” Moreover, to make that claim, it is essential to contact an expert lawyer who will represent you from your side.
The amount that you will get as compensation will highly rely on who the defaulter actually is. However, even if it is not your fault, the ICBC will try its best to make you the guilty. Finally, you will be given 2 years to file a misdeed claim against another responsible driver.
8. Take Care of Your Health for Fast Recovery
You will have a settlement offer from the ICBC in the earlier stage of your recovery procedure. But your answer should be a big “No.” This is because you never know how much time you will need to treat your long-term damages. Therefore, it is always wise to wait until you get proper medical clearance to sit for a settlement.
9. Settlement Negotiation
It is expected like many vehicle accident cases are getting settled outside the court. You will need an experienced lawyer who will help you get a fair and complete settlement deprived of filing a complaint. But, if both the parties’ agreement cannot be reached to a point, the next step is to take the court’s help.
10. Start Trial Planning
In this stage, which will be termed as “discovery,” the ICBC and your lawyer will gather the necessary information to identify the strong points and flaws of both cases of each other. Moreover, both parties will be given a chance to interrogate in their way.
11. Try Mediation
There are still some ways to stop your case to take it to the stage of a trial. While mediation, discuss the settlement matter with a member of the ICBC and a neutral third party. However, be with your lawyer in this whole process.
12. Start The Trial Procedure
If the mediation stage fails, it will be no longer wise to delay taking the case to trial. However, most ICBC cases get solved before going to the trial phase. The reason behind this is, the negotiable process is less risky and low cost.
Factors That May Impact ICBC Settlement Payouts
There are some common factors according to which the ICBC assessment process takes place. This is because the elements tell about the losses of the victim and many other things. For your easy understanding, below is the list of those factors with an explanation.
1. Nature Of The Injury
If the injury is too deep, the victim will get more compensation than the minor injuries. So, this situation needs to be proved by providing necessary documents like a doctor’s prescription, a list of the required medicines, and so on.
2. Recovery Time
Whether you will recover within a short amount of time or need significant time is crucial and may affect your compensation amount. Moreover, it is also possible that you will have permanent disabilities, which will lead you to no income, improper lifestyle, and others. So, these are the matters that need to be focused on during the settlement with ICBC.
3. Chance of Recovery
You should sit for a settlement with ICBC after you have fully recovered from your injury. So, the role of an expert doctor will play a vital part here. The doctor needs to report you or your family member about the possible chance of your recovery.
4. Steps to Reduce Damages
After an accident, the victim needs to take all the necessary steps to reduce the damages’ severity. This can be like seeking medical care, following doctor’s guidelines, going for regular check-ups, and attending all therapies. However, if you do not follow all these, the ICBC will get a chance to say that you made the injury even worse.
5. Loss of Wages
Due to the injury issue, the victims cannot go to their workstations. And this leads them to get no wages during the most needed time. Therefore, provide information on your loss of income to get an appropriate amount of compensation.
6. Mistake
If you share any information related to a car accident’s defaulter with the other parties, you might get a low payout.
7. Previous Health Issues
If you already had other major or minor health issues before a car accident, this can reduce your payout. For instance, someone has pre-accident shoulder pain, even if the crash worsened the injury.
8. Age
If the victim is an aged person, the ICBC will like to settle it on a lower compensation. This is because the victim might have shorter life anticipation. However, according to the British Columbia court’s new law, the person’s age should not determine the payout amount. For instance, a person in his retirement age meets with a car accident and is now severely injured. But he wanted to travel the world, which has now shattered down into pieces. So, in this case, it will be unfair to settle the matter with low compensation.
9. Future Requirements
If the accident makes you entirely unable to fulfill all kinds of future requirements for your house or family, then you have indeed lost your independence. Therefore, the ICBC needs to pay more significant compensation to make you relieve the burden.
10. An Expert Lawyer
If the victim does not take the help of a representative like a lawyer, it has been seen that they end up with a low payout. So, it is clear how much important a legal counsel is to solve a case, and in case of a car accident, do not forget to choose an ICBC lawyer. He knows everything, like what damages you are up to and how to get a considerable value for that.
11. Pain and Suffering
Due to pain and suffering, people lose all the natural enjoyment of life. And instead of that, they only get humiliation and mental distress. So, these issues are also considered while making a settlement. However, the law has already fixed an amount to minimize this pain and suffering.
The Bottom Line
Deciding an amount for the settlement of a car accident is never easy. But it is also not that hard if the victim cooperates with the lawyers with full support. Moreover, the settlement amount can be affected mainly due to the factors mentioned above.
So, to make the procedure of getting the payout smoother, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer right after the accident takes place. He will investigate the matter properly and let you get the appropriate money from the ICBC. Furthermore, make sure that you follow all the ICBC injury settlement guidelines one by one.
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