ICBC Loses “Minor Injury” Fight In Case Involving Chronic Shoulder Injury
Reasons for judgement were recently published by BC’s Civil Resolution Tribunal shaping the case law as to what is, and what is not, a “minor injury” for crashes that happened during the ‘minor injury’ era.
In the recent case (Ampabeng v. Madden) the parties were involved in a collision. The respondent suffered chronic soft tissue injuries and a shoulder injury. He worked a heavy physical job and the injuries caused him to shift to more administrative duties as his injuries largely disabled him from heavy physical labour. The injuries were also not expected to get better. Despite their serious nature ICBC still argued they were ‘minor’. (to little surprise as the label ‘minor’ was political trickery with the law drafted to catch many serious injuries including chronic pain and even some brain injuries).
The CRT found that these injuries were not minor and met the definitions of ‘serious impairment’ in the workplace. In allowing the respondent to take the case back to BC Supreme Court to have his damages fairly and fully assessed the CRT provided the following reasons: