Difference between revisions of "ICBC and Personal Injury Claims (12:XII)"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Desy Wahyuni (talk | contribs) |
Desy Wahyuni (talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 276: | Line 276: | ||
*Where the plaintiff refuses an offer to settle from the defendant, and the eventual judgement is no greater than the offer, the court may award the defendant’s costs in respect of all or some of the steps taken in the proceeding after the date of the offer. | *Where the plaintiff refuses an offer to settle from the defendant, and the eventual judgement is no greater than the offer, the court may award the defendant’s costs in respect of all or some of the steps taken in the proceeding after the date of the offer. | ||
The rules penalizing a plaintiff for overreaching the true value of a claim can be catastrophic in its potential to visit financial ruin upon a claimant who does not exercise a sober and realistic assessment of his or her claim as he or she proceeds into Supreme Court. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that a claimant who refuses to accept an offer of $30,000.00, after judgment for $29,000.00 (i.e. lower than the offer to settle) would finish the day, after paying the insurer’s costs and disbursements, and his or her own disbursements, with '''nothing''' or worse: a debt to the insurer and his or her own lawyer for disbursements. It should be stressed to clients that the lawyer who is hired to do a personal injury case is supposed to be objective, realistic, and not inclined to simply tell the client what they want to hear. When a lawyer talks about the risks of litigation, this penalty for misjudging the value of a case is one of the most important risks to consider. | |||