B.C. court approves 2 settlements in ICBC class-action lawsuit

A B.C. judge has approved two settlements in a long-running class-action lawsuit against the provincial auto insurer ICBC. The lawsuit, filed by Murphy Battista law firm, alleged that successive governments since 1973 had illegally used ICBC funds to reimburse the Medical Services Plan (MSP) for crash victims' doctor visits, leading to poorer care and higher premiums. The original claim sought nearly $900 million, but the B.C. NDP government passed legislation protecting the province and ICBC from some arguments. The final settlement involves $12.2 million paid by the B.C. government to two charities, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Parachute, which advocate against impaired driving and for injury prevention. Additionally, ICBC will compensate members of the accident victim class, who are injured drivers on or after April 1, 1994, with benefits equivalent to their full entitlements plus $1,000 in damages and interest. The total for this class is $657,000. ICBC will donate half of any unpaid amounts to the ICBC Community Grants program and half to the Law Foundation of B.C. Murphy Battista will not charge a fee on payouts.

(Source：Yahoo! News)