ICBC awarded $2.93 million in lawsuit

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) has recently been awarded approximately $2.93 million in damages as a result of 12 fraudulent insurance claims, which occurred in Lower Mainland in the late 1990s. Each of the 12 defendants has been ordered by a B.C. Supreme Court jury to pay a part of the total sum based on their level of involvement in specific claims including: $72,251 in ICBC’s investigative costs; $322,506 in claims costs; and, $2,542,500 in punitive damages. ICBC has been awarded with claims for compensation of its own claim and investigation costs, plus punitive damages ranging from $55,000 to $900,000 against each of the individual participants. Ahmed Faris must pay an excess of $1.1 million.The civil suit was initiated in July 2003 when ICBC filed a lawsuit against 21 people and three companies. The Company claims that the accused individuals "conspired to intentionally cause 10 collisions and then made fraudulent claims to ICBC for compensation. Instigating the lawsuit was ICBC’s potential recovery of claims costs paid, plus all additional costs related to its investigation, punitive damages, interest and legal costs.”ICBC invests in fraud prevention because less fraud means low and stable rates for our customers," Mark Withenshaw, vice president of loss management at ICBC, says. “We will not sit back and simply pass the cost of fraud onto our honest customers."