Don’t blame plaintiff’s lawyers
Re: Trial mismanagement turns express into milk run
It is erroneous to blame plaintiff’s lawyers for trial inefficiency and the attendant increase in expense. A trial lawyer working on a contingency fee basis wants his case to proceed as expeditiously as possible. Any given claim has a certain value, and the quicker and more efficiently that value is recovered, the better. Clients want their case resolved quickly and inexpensively while taking up as little of their time as possible.
Efficient and inexpensive resolution of cases makes them more economic for lawyers retained on a contingency. What protracts litigation is ICBC’s scorched-earth approach to defending claims and securing jury trials in the simplest of cases. With regard to the former, ICBC routinely seeks many years of prior medical records and employment records along with all social media posting and anything else they can get their hands on in the hope of uncovering a smoking gun. I doubt a day passes in this province where ICBC does not have a lawyer in court asking a judge for records. This approach protracts litigation and costs ratepayers dearly.
With regard to the latter, ICBC typically secures jury trials in simple cases. Jury trials are more expensive, longer and use more court resources. The fast-track procedure was instituted years ago largely in response to ICBC’s tactic of using juries for simple cases. At the time, the court said our system cannot afford jury trials in simple cases. Rather than passing unconstitutional laws limiting expert reports and the rights of injured British Columbians, Attorney General David Eby should review how ICBC defends cases.
Contingency lawyers are all in for short, inexpensive trials. The pretrial discovery process needs to be limited by legislation or judgemade law. The right to a jury trial should also be limited, or conversely the applicability of the fast-track rule (wherein there is no jury) should be expanded. Eby should work with all involved parties, including trial lawyers, to reform litigation rather than rely solely on ICBC, which ignited this “dumpster fire.”
Matthew Fahey, Westpoint Law Group, Vancouver