Sometimes a second look can lead to a new decision.

Jen was found to be 100% at fault by ICBC for a hit and run accident on an unattended, parked car. Jen was also issued a hit and run ticket by the RCMP for failing to remain at the scene of an accident based on a witness report. However, Jen claimed that she was in another part of town, without her car, when the incident occurred.

When the RCMP inspected Jen’s vehicle and found no damage, she decided to dispute the hit and run ticket believing that if the court found in her favour, ICBC could not find her liable for the accident. The ticket was dismissed, so Jen approached ICBC to withdraw its liability decision and was informed that their decision was not linked with the RCMP ticket. Additionally, it was now too late for her to dispute the accident liability decision and ICBC would not reconsider its decision.

With ICBC finding Jen liable, and because she had also been involved in two other accidents in the past three years, she was being charged a multiple crash premium; a premium she could not afford to pay.

Feeling ICBC was being unreasonable, Jen contacted us for help.

We investigated whether ICBC followed a reasonable process when finding Jen liable for the accident.

Through the course of our investigation, we learned that ICBC based its liability decision on an RCMP report that included a detailed witness statement identifying Jen’s vehicle as being involved in the hit and run. Jen submitted a letter denying the allegations made but ICBC sided with the witness statement made to the RCMP. We also learned that ICBC did not interview the witness themselves, nor did they inspect Jen’s vehicle when it made the decision. ICBC also did not reconsider its decision in light of the court’s dismissal of the RCMP-issued ticket.

During our investigation, ICBC reviewed Jen’s file. Realizing their decision was unfair, they chose to reverse it. ICBC’s reconsideration settled the issue of unfairness and we closed our file.