Joe Murphy, Q.C. spoke with Sonia Sunger on Global News about ICBC changes to its personal injury settlement strategy and explained why ICBC’s position is problematic. ICBC has decided to end the practice of good faith negotiating and is now considering payments based on a new set of criteria even when ICBC knows that its offer is far less than a person would get by going to court.  Predictably, this will result in many more claims going to court. Joe says that this new policy will raise, not decrease, ICBC’s costs. Further, this policy will have the added negative effects of clogging up the court system, slowing down payouts to injured people, and increasing insurance premiums for BC drivers.

Joe explained the history of ICBC and the reasons for its current predicament; including reviewing the mandate that lead to the founding of ICBC in the early 1970’s, how the provincial government has quietly taken more than a billion dollars in this decade from the corporation, and how the government has failed to allow ICBC to be run by insurance experts. He also provided some proposed solutions, which include ICBC going back to their previous ‘break-even’ business model and enacting much, much tougher distracted driving laws. Tougher distracted driving laws will not only lower ICBC and premium costs, but more importantly, act as a deterrent to a trend that is leading to increased road accident injuries and loss of life.