Newsroom

CBABC continues to make recommendations to influence vehicle insurance regulations, and evidentiary and procedural reform proposed by the Province of BC.

The Section members recommend changes in these areas: 1. Personal health information considerations, emergency measures and PIPA; 2. Importance of maintaining consistency with developments in national and international privacy legislation; 3. Protecting solicitor-client privilege; and 4. Mandatory privacy breach notification.

"We would support your proposal provided that a) the arbitration costs incurred by the parties are similar to the hearing fees charged if the parties were to go to court; b) the province pays for the difference between the actual arbitration costs charged by the arbitrator and the amount of fees that would be similar to the hearing fees; c) the arbitration costs to the parties are shared equally between the parties so that the general costs of the arbitration are neutral as between the parties."

"Courthouses are not just government offices and the Law Courts Inn is not just a restaurant, each are important parts of the institution of providing justice to British Columbians. Decisions with respect to that space should be made keeping in mind the institutional importance of both the Courthouse and that space."

"While I respect the amount of work that went into your submissions, I strongly disagree with your assertion that 'there is no firm support for the conclusion… that the automobile insurance system in British Columbia needs to be substantially overhauled.'"

"Thank you for your letter dated July 7, 2020 and for the opportunity to provide input into your proposals on postponing jury trials for civil matters and the use of binding arbitration for motor vehicle actions, as the justice system attempts to manage the backlog of cases that has increased during this COVID-19 pandemic."

"Over the past several months during the state of emergency, lawyers have assisted clients from vulnerable populations to understand and apply to the special COVID fund supports. Lawyers have ensured that our construction and real estate industries continued with the timely flow of money to complete projects and transactions to keep those parts of the economy going."

"CBABC supports the recommendation of the 2005 report of the British Columbia Law Institute (“Report”) to adopt the Uniform Civil Enforcement of Money Judgements Act to modernize, harmonize and consolidate the law governing enforcement of money judgements." - Jef Poulsen, Co-Chair Insolvency Section of the CBA BC Branch

"We ask you to allocate funding and accelerate the work of the Court Digital Transformation Strategy, to enable British Columbians – no matter where they live – to access the courts and justice services using digital technology. This includes providing British Columbians in smaller and remote communities, including Indigenous communities, with publicly accessible spaces to digitally access the courts and justice services."

The within submissions summarize the response of the CBABC Automobile Insurance Working Group (“AIWG”) to the proposed changes respecting the handling of motor vehicle accident claims in British Columbia.