Clients of mine often suffer from pre-existing injuries; these are injuries that they suffered from prior to their motor vehicle accidents. Pre-existing injuries can severely complicate how much your case is worth and how you should deal with ICBC. The law on this area is equally complicated. A recent Supreme Court of British Columbia case sheds some light on this topic:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/15/16/2015BCSC1630.htm
This case involved a single mother with a variety of pre-existing chronic pain and psychological issues. Despite this, the judge still gave the plaintiff awards for wage losses (both past and future) and pain and suffering. However, the way the courts dealt with her injuries was altered by the pre-existing issues. The judge ruled that, prior to her accidents, the plaintiff had reached a point where her injuries had plateaued. Therefore, the courts could separate her pre-existing injuries from her motor vehicle accident related injuries and provide an award for just her motor vehicle accident related injuries.
What this case shows is that regardless of how the courts deal with pre-existing injuries, the new injuries you sustain in a car accident are compensable. Always keep this in mind when dealing with ICBC. Even if the new injuries consist merely of an aggravation of old injuries, ICBC owes you compensation for these injuries.
