ICBC to fight $12M award for 3 minor accidents

minor, award, fight, ICBC, accidents

WOW......
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british ... -award.html?ref=rss

he Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is asking a judge to overturn what it calls a bizarre decision to award a North Vancouver woman more than $12 million for what it describes as a series of minor traffic accidents.

Between 2006 and 2008, North Vancouver businesswoman Micheline Ciolli was involved in three traffic accidents. Her vehicle was hit once on the driver's side by a car exiting a parking lot and rear-ended twice by other drivers in parking lots, according to ICBC.

All three accidents were minor, said ICBC spokesman Mark Jan Vrem, but when the case went to court late last month, the jury found otherwise.

"It went to trial, and the jury returned with an award of almost $12.5 million," said Jan Vrem.

'This appears to be the largest personal injury award ever handed down in B.C.' —ICBC spokesman Mark Jan Vrem

The provincially owned insurance company believes the award is "excessive in the extreme," said Jan Vrem.
Largest ever award

"This appears to be the largest personal injury award ever handed down in B.C.," Jan Vrem said.

"The award for general damages, which is pain and suffering, was outside the confines of the law. The jury awarded her $6.5 million for pain and suffering, and it's capped at a maximum of $330,000."

ICBC plans to ask the judge to set the award aside, or failing that, the company plans to appeal the award.

Ciolli's lawyer wouldn't comment on the case, saying it is still before the courts,

But in a statement of claim covering one of the accidents, Ciolli described being struck in a Save on Foods parking lot in Coquitlam, leading to a loss of income, pain, suffering and the exacerbation of her previous injuries.