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Insurer accused of bad faith pays $100,000 more for repairs than what the car is worth


March 12, 2018   by David Gambrill


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B.C.’s Supreme Court has allowed a bad faith claim to proceed against the Insurance Corporation of B.C. in the case of a Ferrari repair that cost the government insurer almost $800,000 — about $100,000 more than what the car was worth.

Navraj Heran drove his 1990 Ferrari F40 into a utility pole in 2011. The total cost of repairs is estimated to be in excess of $982,000.

Following an investigation, the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) eventually admitted coverage and accepted it was obliged to cover the cost of repairs. But it said it would only pay up to a maximum of the actual cash value of the vehicle, which an arbitrator determined in 2014 to be $696,061.17.

ICBC told the court it has already paid $789,374.66 towards repairs and refuses to pay more.

Heran, a known collector of Ferrari automobiles, brought a claim against ICBC that included a claim of bad faith. Among other things, he said the ICBC’s delays in repairing the vehicle cost him the financial ability to purchase additional collector cars on advantageous terms. He also cited the diversion of his billable time and resources having to monitor the ICBC’s repair process.

ICBC asked the court to strike the bad faith portion of Heran’s claim, or at least sever it and postpone it until after the rest of the claim had been decided. Among other things, the insurer said the insurance contract was to indemnify for repairs made, and that the claimant should have arranged for the repairs himself.

ICBC further noted that it made a fund of $503,028 available to the plaintiff in April 2014, after an arbitrator determined the actual cash value of the car. Since the plaintiff did not draw those funds to make repairs, ICBC added, any delay after that date is of the plaintiff’s own making.

Heran counters that ICBC took control of the car immediately after the accident and never relinquished it, which prevented him from arranging and paying for the repairs himself. He also pleaded in court that ICBC specifically agreed to arrange and pay for the repairs itself, but then failed to do so in a timely way.

The court did not decide on the merits of Heran’s case, but it did allow the bad faith part of the claim to proceed. Furthermore, it did not grant ICBC’s motion to sever the bad faith portion of the claim and stay proceedings on it until the rest of the issues in Heran’s claim had been decided.

“ICBC argues that it may have to waive privilege over the legal advice it received in order to defend itself against the bad faith allegation, and it should not have to do so if that result can be avoided by trying the other issues first,” the court noted of ICBC’s reasons for trying to sever the bad faith claim.


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2 Comments » for Insurer accused of bad faith pays $100,000 more for repairs than what the car is worth
  1. And other icbc victim says:

    No one’s crying for you icbc. You left me disabled at age 25 and only covered me for 1 physiotherapy treatment after ive been paying into your bs insurance for over 17 years. You allowed the lawyer who was representing me( who at the time I was not aware was employed by ICBC) to take away all of my rights including my rights to a tort settlement for an accident that left me disabled at 25 years old. You icbc pay injury lawyers to do defence work for you while they are representing injured citizens . You do this to ensure that the lawyers you employ are working in your favor stiffing good citizens out of there basic rights to care. You pay off lawyers with huge bonuses and now you think the citizens in bc will give one rats a$$ about you guys lol.. ICBC puts the citizens of bc and there families though hell over there staffs rudness and unfair settlements and bully’s citizens when they are most valuable and injered. I for one hope that a criminal investigation into icbc is started and that this company and it’s corrupt ways is shut down permentently.

  2. John Mundane says:

    Are you aware that if the car was repaired within the first year post accident it would have cost 200 thousand to repair. Its the delays that escalated this. The delays were ICBC induced. The 100k overpay is obviously the taxes on repair due.

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