When's The Best Time to Hire a Lawyer for my ICBC Claim ?

In British Columbia the law states that you have two years,from the date on which you were injured in a car accident, to either settle your case with ICBC or have a lawsuit filed.

So, in theory, you could wait close to two years before hiring a lawyer to handle your auto injury claim. And every couple months someone will phone me from the airport, just before getting on a flight to Cabo, to talk about their case which is 1day shy of the 2 year mark.

Back in the real world , however, the question you have to ask yourself is whether you're serious about getting your ICBC claim properly handled.

Most of the time when someone sees me with a case that's over a year old it's damaged goods.

What do I mean ?

A good settlement or trial judgement is a product of having done things properly throughout the life of your case. For 99.9% of British Columbians that means relying on the advise provided by their lawyer from very early on in the game. And not giving ICBC the opportunity to have their way with them for a number of months.

Besides, any personal lawyer who's experienced at handling ICBC injury claims is going to handle your case on a contingency( percentage )fee basis. Often, the percentage is the same regardless of when you hire that lawyer. So you might as well get full value and hire them early on.

ICBC injury claims are like alot of problems. They don't get solved to your best advantage by being ignored.

Bicycle Accidents - The Rainy Season Is Upon Us

The monsoons are upon us once more.

For Vancouver cyclists the rainy season means that extra caution is advisable.

Why?

Under the best of weather conditions cycling on Vancouver's roadways can be a risky proposition. But once the rain starts to fly the plight of cyclists becomes even more pronounced.

What safety issues should cyclists be aware of ?

The research indicates that the risk factors include:

- Time of Day : 17 percent of deaths and 23 percent of injuries occur during the afternoon rush hour. And 30 percent of cyclist fatalities happen at night or under artificial light conditions;

- Location : Cyclists are more likely to be injured or killed at an intersection or at locations with traffic signals or other traffic control devices. In rural areas, a significant number of cyclist fatalities occur on roads with posted speed limits of 80 km/h or more;

- Age : Cyclists under the age or 24 have significantly higher death and injury rates than the rest of the population.

What issues are specific to cyclist injury claims:

- When a cyclist gets injured I've found that ICBC almost always contests responsibility/liability. The information provided by witnesses is often critical to winning a cyclist's case. The moral of the story here is get the names, telephone numbers and addresses of witnesses;

- The damage caused to your bike may also be useful in sorting out the issue of responsibility/liability. Don't get your bike fixed before having it photographed and inspected by an individual who has the skill necessary to properly document and describe the damage caused by your accident;

- If the car that hit you was damaged in the accident, this damage also helps tell the tale of how the accident happened. Once the damage to this car gets repaired that "evidence" is gone. If you bring this matter up with your ICBC adjuster they'll probably tell you not to worry as they've taken pictures of the car. In my experience the quality of their pictures is poor at best.

So all my cyclist clients and friends, stay safe. And be careful out there.

Get off of Facebook !!

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK !!

NOW !

Social Media has become "mana from heaven" for ICBC. They have people who do nothing but scour Facebook, Blogger and Myspace looking for personal information about people who have made injury claims.

Why ?

Because it's an easy and sometimes very effective way of attempting to dig dirt on someone.

Are they legally allowed to do that ?

There are no legal restrictions on ICBC's ability to access personal information that people post on their social media site.

What are they look for ?

Photos, notes, blogs, etc. Basically, anything which can be used to make it appear that an individual isn't telling the truth about their injuries and/or their ability to work, play sports, party or do anything which they say they can't do.

The trouble here and what most people don't consider is that often there's more to an injured person's story than meets the naked eye. Maybe they were in pain at the time that photo shows them hiking. But the photo doesn't show the pain. Only the hiking.

What should I do ?

If you are using sites like Facebook shut it down. Or at a minimum make sure that everything on your site is "kosher".

But don't stop there. Ask your friends to remove posted pictures of you or comments about you from their sites.

The skinny here is that nothing is truly private online.