Doerkson letter outlines hybrid ICBC plan, as critics warn restoring court access could raise costs

The Story

B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson sent a Sept. 29 letter describing how a new mandate would change the Insurance Corporation of B.C. system, including bringing back accident victims’ right to sue for serious injuries and replacing the NDP’s no-fault scheme with a hybrid model.

In the letter, Doerkson wrote to Aaron Sutherland of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Thomas Spraggs of the Law Society of B.C., Rebecca McConchie of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., and Connor Bildfell of the Canadian Bar Association’s B.C. branch.

The letter also says Doerkson would have government “get out of the legal profession’s business,” and that the hybrid approach would “keep rates affordable for drivers and protect people seriously hurt,” while stating that “everything is on the table,” including “opening auto insurance to private competition to drive down rates.”

On Wednesday, Doerkson denied the letter’s outline was a private promise, saying the commitments were sent to more than 1,000 people.

The Sept. 29 letter comes against a backdrop of years of legal challenges over the overhaul implemented before David Eby became premier, including objections from trial lawyers about how the seven-year-old system limits victims’ right to sue, curtails legal processes, and restricts damage awards.

The source notes that under the former ICBC system, one quarter of ICBC’s annual operating costs was spent on lawyers, and that it was losing so much money it became a focus of provincial budgets.

In 2019, Eby described the overhaul as necessary because personal injury claim costs were increasing by as much as 43 per cent a year, reaching $3.6 billion in 2018, and said “Almost half of each litigated settlement is now being absorbed by legal expenses,” citing lawyers’ bills for both sides, contingency fees and unlimited use of expert witnesses.

The source says the overhaul’s core feature was removing “expensive lawyers and legal fees,” including changes that limited damages in routine crashes and sent disputes to the Civil Resolution Tribunal rather than court, while imposing an enhanced care model for catastrophic cases where rehabilitation costs are covered indefinitely.

It also points out that Eby accused Doerkson of making a “secret deal” that would double vehicle insurance premiums, which the source says have stayed notably lower than elsewhere since the revamp.

After the NDP raised alarms about the letter, the source reports Doerkson said Conservatives would introduce limits on the costs and levels of what lawyers are able to charge and that he was “definitely committed to a hybrid,” potentially involving restoring greater rights to sue in catastrophic injury cases.

The source further argues that some of the statements in Doerkson’s letter appear to pull in different directions, with “everything is on the table” standing alongside the more specific promise to “replace the NDP’s no-fault scheme with a hybrid system.”