HEADLINES
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY December 1 - 15, 2018
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Guest Writer
By Christopher Dyson, Lawyer
The BC NDP John Horgan
Government has defined certain
injuries from motor vehicle accidents
as “minor” by law and will apply an
ICBC compensation cap of $5,500
for pain and suffering damages for
such “minor injuries”. Indeed, the
new ICBC caps will capture some
very serious injuries such as chronic
pain, psychiatric injuries such as
major depression, anxiety, PTSD
and surprisingly, mild traumatic
brain injuries otherwise known as
concussions. The injury caps only
apply to traffic accidents that occur
after April 1, 2019.
The current cap for pain
and suffering damages in British
Columbia is $367,000 (set by the
Supreme Court of Canada), so the
new imposed cap of $5,500 is quite a
reduction in compensation. Pain and
suffering damages is compensation
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The BC Government’s “Minor” Injury
Caps Hurt Victims
for the impact that your injuries will
have on your quality of life including
the effect on your sleep health,
hobbies and life in general. If you are
injured by a careless party such as a
distracted driver, you are entitled to
this compensation by law. The NDP
Government is modifying this law.
Pain and suffering damages
are particularly important for the
retired, self-employed, unemployed
and children (minors under the age
of 19) because injured victims from
these groups are entitled to this
compensation even if no work is
missed. By restricting compensation
for pain and suffering damages, the BC
NDP Government is disproportionally
hurting these groups.
Between February and June 2018,
the BC NDP Government (aware by
this time of ICBC’s financial situation)
promised repeatedly that concussions
(minor traumatic brain injuries) would
not be defined as “minor injuries”.
However, in November of 2018, they
included concussions in the ICBC
definition of “minor injuries”, contrary
to their earlier public statements.
If you suffer from a concussion
or brain injury caused by a traffic
accident, you will have to show
that your injuries have caused an
incapacity in your ability to work, study
or care for yourself for more than four
months in order for your claim to be
removed from the cap. Symptoms
lasting more than four months, by
themselves, are not sufficient for your
injury compensation to be removed
out of the $5500 cap. Chronic neck
or back pain must be projected to last
indefinitely to be eligible for removal
from the cap.
Will the injury caps solve ICBC’s
Financial Problems? No, they won’t.
ICBC will continue to be under
financial stress until the increase in
accident rates in BC is brought down
- caps or no caps.
Accident rates are rising at
approximately 2-3 times population
growth due to distracted driving, rising
driver errors, poor driver education/
habits and more congestion.
Punishing
injured
ICBC
ratepayers who are the victims of bad
drivers is not the solution for ICBC’s
woes. Instead, the burden should be
placed on the cause: bad drivers. That
will change driver behaviour, bring
down the accident rate and restore
ICBC to financial health.
*****
Christopher Dyson is from
Dyson Law Firm. Email at
[email protected] or
call 604-876-7000
*****
2019 Property Assessments Will Reflect
BC’s Shifting Housing Markets
VICTORIA - After years of dramatic
increases in British Columbia’s annual
property assessments, we are now
seeing signs of moderation as the
real estate market softens in some
areas of the province. The soon to be
released 2019 property assessments
are based on what was happening in
the real estate market as of July 1 this
year.
“It’s a real mix in property value
changes, but the market can best
be summed up as showing signs
of stability across most areas of the
province,” says Assessor Tina Ireland.
“Changes in property assessments
really depend on where you live. For
example, assessed values for detached
single family homes in many areas of
Metro Vancouver may see a softening
in value, while other markets and
areas of the province will see modest
increases over last year’s values.”
Based on what was happening in
the real estate market as of July 1 this
year, the 2019 property assessment
highlights include:
Metro
Vancouver
• Some
detached single family homes were
showing decreases in value of -5% to
-10% over last year, including in areas
of Vancouver, the North Shore, South
Surrey, White Rock, South Delta and
Richmond. Other areas were relatively
stable or even showing modest
increases.
• The rest of the province could
expect increases of +5 to +15% for
single family home assessed values.
This includes the Fraser Valley,
Vancouver Island, Okanagan and the
North. In many parts of central and
northern Vancouver Island, values
were increasing closer to +20%. And,
in Kitimat, the increases were even
greater in response to activity within
the resource sector.
• The residential strata market
(i.e. condominiums) increased with
typical values of +10 to+20% across
most areas of the province. Vancouver,
the North Shore and Burnaby
increases were slightly less than this
range while the eastern Fraser Valley
increases may be higher in some
cases.
commercial
and
• Typical
industrial
properties
experience
continued increases across most of
the province in the +10 to +20%
range, with some markets around
Metro Vancouver up +30%.
All British Columbia’s property
owners will receive their annual
property assessment notices in
early January 2019. Additional price
moderation has been seen later in the
year, particularly in Metro Vancouver.
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However, to make sure property
assessments are fair, they are all
calculated based on the same date of
July 1st every year. “When properties
similar to your property are sold around
July 1, those sales prices are used to
calculate your assessed value,” adds
Ireland. “Our job is to make sure your
assessment is fair and accurate as
compared to your neighbours.”
During
December,
BC
Assessment is providing notification
letters to property owners whose
assessments
are
increasing
significantly more than the average
change.
Visit bcassessment.ca after
January 1 to access a variety of
2019
assessment
information
including searching and comparing
2019 property assessments as well
as market movement trends. ( BC
Assessment)