{"id":88714,"date":"2025-02-15T01:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T01:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/icbc-ordered-to-pay-over-400000-after-denying-widow-death-benefits-following-fatal-crash-bc-injury-law\/"},"modified":"2025-02-15T01:01:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T01:01:54","slug":"icbc-ordered-to-pay-over-400000-after-denying-widow-death-benefits-following-fatal-crash-bc-injury-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=88714","title":{"rendered":"ICBC Ordered To Pay Over $400,000 After Denying Widow Death Benefits Following Fatal Crash \u2013 BC INJURY LAW"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-8604\">\n<p>    <meta property=\"name\" content=\"ICBC Ordered To Pay Over $400,000 After Denying Widow Death Benefits Following Fatal Crash\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta property=\"author\" typeof=\"Person\" content=\"ERIK MAGRAKEN\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta property=\"dateModified\" content=\"2024-04-22T17:55:20+00:00\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta class=\"uk-margin-remove-adjacent\" property=\"datePublished\" content=\"2024-04-22T17:55:20+00:00\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"uk-margin-top uk-margin-remove-bottom uk-article-meta\">\n                Written by <a href=\"https:\/\/bc-injury-law.com\/author\/emagraken\/\">ERIK MAGRAKEN<\/a> on <time datetime=\"2024-04-22T17:55:20+00:00\">April 22, 2024<\/time>.                Posted in <a href=\"https:\/\/bc-injury-law.com\/category\/bc-civil-resolution-tribunal\/\" rel=\"category tag\">BC Civil Resolution Tribunal<\/a>.                            <\/p>\n<div class=\"uk-margin-medium-top\" property=\"text\">\n<p>Reasons for decision were published last week by the Civil Resolution Tribunal ordering ICBC to pay over $400,000 in benefits and interest after finding they wrongly denied a widow spousal death benefits following a fatal collision.<\/p>\n<p>In the recent case (<a href=\"https:\/\/decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca\/crt\/abc\/en\/item\/525988\/index.do\">Dion v. ICBC<\/a>) the Applicant\u2019s spouse died in a motorcycle collision in 2022.\u00a0 The Applicant applied for the spousal death benefit but ICBC refused to pay arguing that they were living separately at the time of the crash and therefore no longer spouses as defined in the applicable regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Vic Chair Eric Regehr found that ICBC was wrong in denying the benefit and found that the Applicant was still the Defendant\u2019s spouse despite them living separately.\u00a0 In doing so the Tribunal provided the following reasons noting living together is not a requirement under section 45(b) of the regulation:<span id=\"more-8604\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em><a name=\"par14\"\/>14.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This definition is in EABR section 45, which says:<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em>\u201cSpouse\u201d, in relation to a deceased, means a person<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em>(a)\u00a0\u00a0Who was married to and residing with the deceased on the date of death, or<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em>(b)\u00a0\u00a0Who lived in a marriage-like relationship with the deceased for at least 2 years immediately preceding the date of death.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a name=\"par35\"\/>35.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am not persuaded that the definition of dependant means that I should read in the word \u201cresides with\u201d to the definition of a spouse for death benefits. I say this for several reasons. First, this definition of dependant is more general, applying to any claim under Part 10 of the IVA. The definition of spouse in EABR section 45 is restricted to death benefits. I find that the more specific definition should take precedence. Also, the legislature did not include the words \u201cresides with\u201d in section 45(b) like it did in section 45(a). The legislature is presumed to choose its words carefully and intentionally, so I must give meaning to the legislature\u2019s choice not to say \u201cresides\u201d in section 45(b). Finally, to the extent these definitions create ambiguity, that ambiguity should be resolved in favour of extending coverage, based on the general principles of statutory interpretation discussed above.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em><a name=\"par47\"\/>47.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I acknowledge ICBC\u2019s submission that Mrs. Dion said in an August 10, 2022 written statement that she and Mr. Dion \u201cseparated\u201d in January 2022. Later in the same statement, she described the separation as \u201ctemporary\u201d and said that she never intended for their marriage to end. She described the work they did on their relationship during that time and their shared intention for her to move back into the family home when some renovations were complete. She also added in handwriting at the bottom of the statement \u201cwe were not legally separated\u201d. I find that Mrs. Dion used the word \u201cseparated\u201d simply to indicate that they decided to live in separate residences for a time, not to indicate that their marriage had ended. This is consistent with Mrs. Dion\u2019s June 30, 2022 application for accident benefits, where she listed her marital status as \u201cmarried\u201d, not \u201cseparated\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em><a name=\"par48\"\/>48.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I find that there is no evidence either Mr. or Mrs. Dion ever communicated to the other an intention to permanently separate. While they lived in separate residences, they continued to parent together, spend time together, and celebrate family events together. They travelled as a family. Their friends and family all considered them to be a couple who was still together and working on improving their relationship. There is little evidence about how they arranged their finances before or after January 2022, but there is no evidence the arrangements had changed. The evidence suggests they were not sexually intimate for a time but resumed that aspect of their relationship.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em><a name=\"par49\"\/>49.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Based on this evidence, I find that Mr. and Mrs. Dion never separated. They were living with each other in a marriage-like relationship until his death and had been doing so for at least the preceding two years. Therefore, I find that Mrs. Dion was Mr. Dion\u2019s \u201cspouse\u201d under section 45 of the EABR.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em><a name=\"par58\"\/>58.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Within 30 days of this decision, I order ICBC to pay Mrs. Dion $407,209.11, broken down as follows:<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"AlphaList\"><em>a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$380,000 in spousal death benefits,<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"AlphaList\"><em>b.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$27,084.11 in prejudgment interest under the\u00a0Court Order Interest Act, and<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"AlphaList\"><em>c.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$125 in CRT fees.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ParagNum\"><em><a name=\"par59\"\/>59.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mrs. Dion is also entitled to post-judgment interest under the\u00a0Court Order Interest Act.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings above via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings below via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons above via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons below via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts below via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->                <\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n                                        <a href=\"https:\/\/bc-injury-law.com\/tag\/dion-v-icbc\/\">Dion v. ICBC<\/a>,                            <a href=\"https:\/\/bc-injury-law.com\/tag\/enhanced-accident-benefits-regulation\/\">Enhanced Accident Benefits Regulation<\/a>,                            <a href=\"https:\/\/bc-injury-law.com\/tag\/icbc-spousal-death-benefit\/\">ICBC Spousal Death Benefit<\/a>                    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by ERIK MAGRAKEN on April 22, 2024. Posted in BC Civil Resolution Tribunal. Reasons for decision were published last week by the Civil Resolution Tribunal ordering ICBC to pay over $400,000 in benefits and interest after finding they wrongly denied a widow spousal death benefits following a fatal collision. In the recent case (Dion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[11283,3034,4121,31105,19394,43264,9579,12685,24891,11007,30280],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-88714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal","tag-benefits","tag-crash","tag-death","tag-denying","tag-fatal","tag-icbc","tag-injury","tag-law","tag-ordered","tag-pay","tag-widow"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ICBC Ordered To Pay Over $400,000 After Denying Widow Death Benefits Following Fatal Crash \u2013 BC INJURY LAW - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=88714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ICBC Ordered To Pay Over $400,000 After Denying Widow Death Benefits Following Fatal Crash \u2013 BC INJURY LAW - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Written by ERIK MAGRAKEN on April 22, 2024. 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