B.C. court approves 2 settlements in ICBC class

B.C. court approves 2 settlements in ICBC class-action lawsuit

Settlements include $12.2M for charity, payouts for some auto accident victims

A B.C. judge has approved two settlements in a long-running class-action lawsuit against the provincial auto insurer that once sought nearly $900 million in damages.

The negotiated settlements will see far less: $12.2 million paid by the B.C. government to two charities, as well as hundreds of thousands paid by the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) to some victims injured in auto accidents.

The 2020 lawsuit claimed that successive provincial governments since 1973 had been secretly and illegally using ICBC monies — amounting to millions of dollars annually — to reimburse the public Medical Services Plan (MSP) for car crash victims' doctor visits.

It alleged that led to poorer medical care for crash victims who haven't received the full benefits they are entitled to.

The lawsuit also said it resulted in high premiums for drivers insured by ICBC, who had essentially been paying for crash victims' doctor costs twice: once through their tax contributions to MSP and again through their ICBC premiums.

The Murphy Battista law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of two types of plaintiffs: the "ratepayer class," representing all insured drivers, and the "accident victim class," representing injury victims.

At one point, the lawsuit sought $899.72 million, plus damages and interest, proposing that every provincially-insured driver and injured crash victim in B.C. be paid in the result of a victory.

Ultimately, however, provincial legislation passed by the B.C. NDP government meant that the province and ICBC were protected from some of the lawsuit's arguments.

What that resulted in was a settlement amount of $12.2 million to be paid to members of the ratepayer class — every insured driver in B.C., which would be some 5.6 million people, according to Supreme Court Justice Ward Branch.

The lawyers in the case said that amount of money would amount to a negligible payout per person — just over $2 — and that it should go towards charity instead.

It means that charities Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Parachute — which advocate against impaired driving and for injury prevention, respectively — will be paid by the province as part of the approved settlement.

"I accept that Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Parachute ... are [focused] on reducing injuries on the road, which is the closest, clearest and most direct tie possible to a class of drivers on the road," Branch wrote.

Accident victims to be compensated

Meanwhile, members of the accident victim class — anyone injured in a motor vehicle accident on or after April 1, 1994, who didn't opt out of the class action and received benefits up to the legal limit of ICBC's liability to pay — will be receiving money equivalent to the full benefits they were entitled to.

In addition, they will be receiving $1,000 in damages and interest, according to the settlement language.

According to Murphy Battista, the total settlement amount of the accident victim class will add up to $657,000.

As part of the settlement, if ICBC isn't able to compensate victims, the corporation will donate half the amount to the ICBC Community Grants program and half the amount to the Law Foundation of B.C.

Murphy Battista will not charge a fee on payouts, according to the settlement approval decision.

A spokesperson for ICBC said it had begun providing compensation to members of the accident victim class.

"The Court found the negotiated settlement proposal fair and reasonable, and this judgment brings closure to longstanding litigation," they wrote in a statement.

With files from Liam Britten and Eric Rankin