Difference between revisions of "ICBC and Personal Injury Claims (12:XII)"

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.