Abbotsford family agrees to pay ICBC $126,000

An Abbotsford, BC family found to have filed a claim on a staged accident has agreed to pay B.C.’s public auto insurer $126,000.
The Insurance Corp. of B.C. was assessed $126,000 in punitive damages after a 2003 trial concluded that Deepak Kumar Sharma had conspired with family members to stage a two-vehicle accident. After the verdict, ICBC pursued civil litigation and a jury was asked last month to assess punitive damages against the family. To avoid the expense of a second trial, a $126,000 settlement was arrived at and approved by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Tysoe.
In the original claim, filed in 1996, Sharma bought an older Honda Prelude just days prior to the accident and registered the car in a friend’s name. The friend then waited at the intersection of Marshall and Beaver Roads in Abbotsford, and when the Sharma family arrived, the friend drove the Honda into the Sharma’s vehicle. Sharma, his parents and brother all filed injury claims with ICBC.