Wednesday, February 6, 2013

ICBC's refusal to repay Sick Bank benefits for accident victim denied by BC Courts


The Supreme Court of British Columbia released a ruling on January 18, 2013 which denied ICBC's attempts to not repay sick bank benefits to an car accident victim.  The case involved a Vancouver City police officer who was forced to use part of his accumulated sick bank while recovering from injuries.

The officer was succesful in obtaining a judgment against the uninsured driver who caused the accident.  ICBC was responsible for paying the judgment on behalf of the uninsured driver, but asked the court to reduce the judgment by the amount of the sick bank payments received by the officer.

If ICBC had been successful, the officer would not have been able to repay the sick bank, thereby leaving him with fewer sick days should he suffer an illnes in the future.

Mr. Justice Willcock determined that ICBC could not legally refuse the pay the amount of sick days used if these formed part of the judgment against the uninsured driver.

The judgment can be found at: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/13/01/2013BCSC0151.htm