Our Success Benefits All Our Clients*

We are experienced trial lawyers with a proven track record of success.

A selection of personal injury, class action lawsuits and insurance cases* where our lawyers have successfully helped clients are listed below.

*Disclaimer: The outcome of every legal proceeding will vary according to the facts and unique circumstances in each individual case. References to successful case results where the lawyers at Murphy Battista LLP have acted for clients are not necessarily a guarantee or indicative of future results.

Denied Claims

Elizabeth Emery acted for the widow of an ICBC claims examiner who had taken his life. Elizabeth was initially successful in obtaining survivor benefits for the widow and her three young children through WorkSafeBC, on the basis that the worker’s suicide was brought about by his employment. The deceased worker had been the primary source of financial support for his family.

The deceased worker’s employer (ICBC) chose to challenge WorkSafeBC’s acceptance of the widow’s claim for survivor benefits, leading to a review before the WorkSafeBC Review Division. The main issue before the Review Division was whether the deceased worker’s employment as a senior claims examiner had aggravated his pre-existing depression, which led to his death. Elizabeth was successful in defeating the employer’s appeal and maintaining survivor benefits for the widow and her children. The Review Division upheld the initial decision of the WorkSafeBC Case Manager, finding that there was evidence of an identifiable series of significant stressors arising out of the worker’s employment and that these stressors were the predominant cause of the aggravation of his pre-existing depression.

The benefits obtained for the widow and her children are worth over $1.5 million.

Scott Stanley successful represented the Claimant in an arbitration with ICBC. The Claimant was a young chiropractor student from B.C. who was going to school in California. He had a valid B.C. license and was stopped by a police officer who wrongly told him he needed to get a California license. He applied for and obtained a California license even though he did not meet the residency requirements to obtain such a license. He was in a serious car accident in California and the negligent driver did not have enough insurance and the Claimant  needed to rely on his underinsured motor protection (UMP) which he had as a result of holding a B.C. license. ICBC denied his claim saying that the Claimant surrendered his B.C. license (and his UMP coverage) when he obtained the California license. The arbitrator found that he did not surrender his B.C. license and that he was entitled to his $1M of UMP coverage.

In 2017, Joe Murphy, Q.C. took on the claim of SA from a motor vehicle accident that occurred in 2004.  In 2004, SA was sitting in a parked work truck having his lunch when the truck was struck by another vehicle, leaving SA very badly injured.  In 2004, the ICBC coverages provided about $350,000 in insurance coverage to SA.  Joe argued that SA was entitled to the 2007 ICBC coverage that would provide $1 million to SA, even though the MVA was in 2004.  In 2018, an arbitrator agreed that SA was entitled to the $1 million 2007 coverage, and when ICBC tried to appeal that decision, in 2020 BC Supreme Court judge dismissed that appeal – with the final result that SA recovered an additional $650,000.

Read the full decision here.

Kevin Gourlay and Paul Bosco acted for a 46-year-old tradesman who sustained injuries to his head, neck and back in a head-on collision. The plaintiff also claimed compensation for psychological injuries. He was initially denied benefits by ICBC who said that it was a WCB issue. Having overcome that defence, the plaintiff proceeded to trial and recovered damages of $724,000, including $150,000 for pain and suffering and $400,000 for lost earning capacity.

Scott Stanley represented the Plaintiff on this appeal from a finding that a Defendant driver was not insured under the insurance policy of a leasing vehicle. The Defendant driver only had a $1 million policy limit with ICBC but the Plaintiff’s damages were $1.6 million. The Plaintiff sought to obtain the additional $600,000 from the insurance policy of the leasing company. The Plaintiff was not successful at trial but succeeded on the appeal.

In this appeal, Scott Stanley and Kevin Gourlay acted for two homeowners that were denied coverage by their insurance company, Wawanesa, after their house was destroyed by a furnace explosion. Wawanesa took the position that they were not entitled to coverage because the home had been “vacant” for more than 30 days and because they had not notified Wawanesa of a “material change” in circumstances. The homeowners lost at trial with the trial judge upholding Wawanesa’s denial of coverage. Scott and Kevin took the file over after trial and were successful in having the Court of Appeal reverse the trial judge’s finding on the basis of a 1932 Supreme Court of Canada decision that had not been given to the trial judge.

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