Plaintiff gets an apology from ICBC
Class action against auto insurer seeks $900 million for alleged illegal scheme
ICBC has apologized to one of the representative plaintiffs involved in a $900-million class action lawsuit filed against the auto insurer.
In March 2020, a lawsuit filed by representative plaintiffs Brayden Methot and Robert Rorison alleged that the B.C. government had engaged in an illegal scheme to divert hundreds of millions of dollars, resulting in losses to benefits for accident victims and driving up insurance rates for B.C. drivers.
Methot, the plaintiff for the accident-victim class, was left a quadriplegic after being injured in a motor vehicle accident on June 9, 2014, near Kamloops. He was a passenger in a vehicle that crossed the centre line and struck an oncoming vehicle.
Methot was 24 at the time of the collision, which left him unable to work and in need of care. He became eligible accident benefits, which he received.
But in April 2015, ICBC advised him through his lawyer that his accident benefit fund had been depleted after reaching the maximum expenditure of $150,000. He later learned, however, that ICBC had diverted $3,709 to the Medical Services Plan for his physician visits instead of paying the money to him.
After the filing of the class action suit, which alleges the provincial government routinely raided ICBC's budget for its own benefit, using the funds to pay for things ICBC should not have paid for, the insurer sent a letter of apology to Methot's lawyer, Scott Stanley, saying that Methot's benefits had not been exhausted in April 2015. The letter from an ICBC lawyer admitted that, in error, ICBC had included the payments to the medical practitioners totalling $3,709.
“ICBC apologizes to Mr. Methot for the error in calculating his requested lump sum payout,” says the letter.
ICBC sent him a cheque for the $3,709, but Methot, who intends to proceed with his lawsuit, hasn't cashed it, according to an affidavit filed by the Williams Lake man.
Court documents filed since the lawsuit began last year also indicate that ICBC is reviewing more than 500 similar accident benefit files to see whether ICBC owes money to any of those claimants.
According to an affidavit filed by an ICBC official, the insurer will write to those individuals, once identified, regarding reimbursement of any unpaid expenses up to the amount that remains owing out of the coverage limit.
Robert Rorison, the representative claimant of the ratepayer class, has bought insurance through ICBC since 1973, with premiums going up substantially over the years. He claims the rate increases are due in part to the alleged illegal scheme and seeks a declaration that the higher rates amount to an unconstitutional tax.
In court documents filed in response to the class action, ICBC has denied any illegality.
The insurer filed an application for a hearing to determine whether to dismiss Rorison's part of the class action claims before proceeding with the certification hearing in the class.
But in a ruling released in November, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nathan Smith refused to grant the order sought by ICBC.
The judge, who said he wasn't making any comment on the validity of the claims in the lawsuit, found that ICBC had not met the onus of establishing a compelling reason or exceptional circumstance that would justify a departure from the general rule that the certification application should be heard first.
The certification hearing is scheduled for three days, beginning April 26, in Vancouver.