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The-Last-Word

ICBC negotiations pt 3

Time deadlines and low ball offers were the first two of my series on ICBC negotiation tactics.  

This article is a continuation of that series, after my Ghomeshi interruption last week. This time, I am writing about a less recognizable, more insidious tactic.

A personal injury claim is not like the stone chess set I was “high-balled” on in Mexico. With the chess set, I could pick up and examine every stone piece as well as the board, looking for chips or cracks. I didn’t have to trust anything that came out of the vendor’s mouth about what I was purchasing. The negotiation was solely about the price of a plainly visible, examinable item.

Compare that with the purchase of a used car. At my level of mechanical expertise, about the only thing I can independently verify is the depth of tire tread. Is it original paint or has paint been used to cover up Bondo? Might the brakes or transmission be on their last legs? Does the car have a week of life left or another 200,000 kilometres?

With seat belts and air bags, few ICBC claims involve fractures. Most involve injuries to the connective tissues and joints between the vertebrae in the spine that sustain microtears and other invisible damage, known as “soft tissue injuries”.

If you put the stone chess set on one end and a used car on the other end, a soft tissue injury would be way off the charts, beyond the used car end of that spectrum. Even medical science has difficulty understanding exactly what it is going on with soft tissue injuries, which cannot be seen on x-rays, CT scans, or MRIs. 

Whereas you could hire a mechanic to go over a used car with a fine toothed comb to tell you exactly what condition it is in, no medical specialist in the land can do the same with your soft tissue injury.

The science is clear on one thing, though: The uncertainty of prognosis. For most people, pain and other symptoms arising from a soft tissue injury resolve 100%. For many, they don’t. 

Some end up with a lifetime of mild pain or discomfort that has a minimal impact on their lives, sort of like a toothache that never goes away.  

The really unlucky ones develop chronic pain conditions that require lidocaine infusions, facet joint injections, or rhizotomies, narcotic medication, and other therapies to manage their unrelenting pain.

The insidious negotiation tactic I am writing about today is the sophisticated ICBC adjuster, knowledgeable about the science, who encourages you to settle your claim on the basis of the optimism of your doctor and others on your treatment team, without any mention of the possibility that the optimism is misplaced.

The reason I call this negotiation tactic insidious is that you, the injured victim, do not have this information, that optimism may be misplaced. You want badly to believe the medical team that you are on the road to a full recovery. 

A representative of your own insurance company, ICBC (though in a negotiation is representing the other driver, not you), is encouraging you to believe it. You have no idea that there is a very real possibility that you might never, ever fully recover, and what that might mean in terms of fair compensation.

Fair financial compensation for a temporary soft tissue injury that completely resolves within a short period of time is in a different stratosphere from what’s fair for an injury that never resolves. I’m talking a minimum of tens of thousands of dollars difference. Unless you are reading this column, you don’t know that information.

Optimism is an important form of recovery therapy, by the way. The brain is an incredibly powerful healing tool. You cannot think your way out of the very real damage your soft tissues have sustained, but you will have more energy to follow through with stretching and strengthening therapies, be less likely to develop depression, and the list of benefits goes on.

My advice is to fully embrace the optimism of your medical team, and to believe that the odds are in your favour to achieve a complete recovery. Wait, though, until that beautiful recovery is achieved before entering into a settlement negotiation.

Get legal advice to know what your limitation period deadline is (it is typically, but not always, two years) and if you are still dealing with symptoms as that date approaches, then make sure to take the necessary steps to protect your rights, because you will be in it for the long haul if you want to have a hope of fair compensation. This is something I’ll be covering in the last column of this series.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

How does this story make you feel? (68 total votes)
Castanet MoodMeter
Shocked
7.4%
Frustrated
1.5%
Informed
67.6%
Relieved
1.5%
Skeptical
8.8%
Convinced
13.2%

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About the Author

Lawyer Paul Hergott began writing as a columnist in January 2007. 

Achieving Justice, based on Paul’s personal injury practice at the time, focused on injury claims and road safety.  It was published weekly for 13½ years until July 2020, when his busy legal practice no longer left time for writing.

Paul was able to pick up writing again in January 2024. After transitioning his practice to estate administration and management.

Paul’s intention is to write primarily about end of life and estate related matters, but he is very easily distracted by other topics.

You are encouraged to contact Paul directly at [email protected] with legal questions and issues you would like him to write about.



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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