Personal injury lawyer Jessica Vliegenthart is concern for victims who won't know how to deal with ICBC following an accident (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

NO-FAULT INSURANCE

‘People are going to be on their own’: Kamloops personal injury lawyer says no-fault insurance to punish car accident victims

Feb 7, 2020 | 4:51 PM

KAMLOOPS — Jessica Vliegenthart knows the challenges of navigating a bureaucratic organization to obtain benefits — and she’s a lawyer.

Vliegenthart became a paraplegic in her 20s and still deals with WorkSafe BC for compensation.

She says ICBC’s move to no-fault insurance will make navigating the system a challenge now that people can’t sue after an accident.

“A lot of people come to me when they have discovered how challenging it is to try to work with ICBC,” she said. “Just to get treatment, basic treatment, that they need to get their lives back on track. They often can’t get that from ICBC.”

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Thursday’s announcement eliminates lawyers from the process, unless criminality is involved. It gives ICBC 100 per cent control over how much it pays out for a claim and when a victim is healthy enough to return to work without any recourse for people to challenge.

“People are going to be on their own. They’re going to have to navigate against a huge bureaucracy by themselves when they injured,” said Vliegenthart.

The provincial government says the move will lower driver rates starting in May 2021 by an average of 20 per cent, or $400, a year. It’s expected to save the insurance corporation $1.5 billion a year.

B.C. attorney general David Eby says government will ensure the accountability of ICBC.

“We will put in law that ICBC has an obligation to provide the benefits and advise people, which means on judicial review of civil resolution tribunal decisions, the courts will be evaluating ICBC against that standing,” said Eby during the announcement on Thursday.

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone, the former minister responsible for ICBC, says it’s a broken election promise. He adds the NDP’s solutions to try and save the corporation money has failed to date.

“There’s a huge trust issue here, a trust issue with the NDP who said they would never do this,” said Stone. “A trust issue with the NDP who implemented a civil resolution tribunal, which was supposed to save the corporation and reduce rates. That hasn’t happened.”

Stone says ICBC has been trying to push B.C. governments to implemented no-fault insurance for years, even when he was minister. The NDP has committed and Stone notes it will hurt all drivers, despite the upfront savings on rates.

Vliegenthart worries about car crash victims being treated unfairly in the process of ICBC trying to save money, and their lives ultimately suffering as a result.

“There’s going to be a lot of people who can’t access the things they need to get healthy and move on with their lives,” she said.