Chronic Myofascial Pain Found to be “Minor Injury” for BC Crash Victim
For two years BC crash victims were subject to the “minor injury” scheme. Basically a law labelling that most injuries are minor. Many British Columbians were surprised to find out that most injuries are labelled minor under this law despite common understanding of the word meaning otherwise. That’s legal drafting and defining in action. Legislative trickery. Words don’t always mean what you think they do, they mean what the government defined them to.
The constitutionality of the Civil Resolution Tribunal, the body given power to decide if injuries are ‘minor’, was in flux for years. With more legal clarity now determinations are being made. This week one of the first minor injury determinations was handed down with the Tribunal finding that an applicant’s chronic myofascial pain was caught by the broad BC Government definition of ‘minor injury’.
In the recent case (Silver v. All-West Heritage Glass Ltd.) the applicant was injured in a 2020 crash that the Defendant was at fault for. The crash caused chronic injury to the Plaintiff’s shoulder that continued to trouble her years later and interfere with some day to day activities. Despite the chronic nature of the injury the Tribunal provided the following reasons finding they fit the definition of minor: