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Motor Vehicle
Practice

Practice Profile

The Motor Vehicle Practice of Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP advises and represents clients in all aspects of British Columbia motor vehicle law. Our clients include both primary and excess insurers located throughout North America. Alexander Holburn has one of the largest insurance law practice groups in Western Canada and has a long history of client satisfaction. Insurers come to us comfortable in the knowledge that their matters will be handled expertly, effectively, and efficiently.

We recognize that prompt and insightful reporting are key to facilitating the success of our clients. As such, we focus on early file analysis, frequent reporting, and the early resolution of claims. We bring to each file our considerable experience in resolving claims through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. If necessary, we also draw on our expertise as trial and appellate lawyers to achieve the best results for our clients.

Alexander Holburn is a firm of 70 lawyers with a full complement of articling students and paralegals. Depending upon the needs of each client assignment, we have lawyers of all years of experience, from junior to some of the most experienced lawyers in Canada.

The matters we frequently handle include the following:

• claims for major property and economic losses;
• claims arising from complex and catastrophic injuries,
• including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and psychological ailments;
• primary defence of out-of-province insureds;
• defence for excess insurers;
• coverage opinions and policy interpretations;
• legal opinions on unique aspects of B.C. law, including the interplay between excess insurers and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) when it is the primary insurer and the insurer of no-fault benefits;
• watching briefs where ICBC counsel conducts the primary defence; and
• subrogated claims.

We have developed a network of highly qualified experts to assist on all issues, such as medical, engineering, actuarial, and economic analyses, accident reconstruction, background investigations, and surveillance.

The services we offer include extensive value-added resources. We have a comprehensive library, a research archive, and computerized legal research managed by a senior law librarian and senior research lawyer. We are on the cutting edge of technology. For large cases, we have litigation management software. We also offer UTBMS billing and our team of computer technicians to assist with client/lawyer intranets, professional quality PowerPoint presentations, and electronic scanning and transmission of documents, where needed.

Our motor vehicle lawyers are members of the Canadian Defence Lawyers, the Defence Research Institute, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Canadian Bar Association and its sections for Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Class Actions, and Insurance law. We are frequent presenters and contributors to several publications, including those for Canadian Defence Lawyers and Continuing Legal Education courses regarding effective and efficient handling of insurance claims, personal injury claims, and trial advocacy techniques.

Some of the more recent matters we handled include the following:

• an assignment just a few weeks before a trial of a $6.7 million claim for which we provided a coverage opinion and recommendations to the excess insurer for minimizing its exposure;
• a coverage opinion and successful negotiations regarding the ranking of the obligations of a travel insurer and ICBC for medical expenses;
• a response to the appeal of a plaintiff whose multi-million dollar claim was dismissed at trial, resulting in the upholding of that dismissal; and
• a defence of the claims of a plaintiff who sustained a moderate brain injury and multiple orthopaedic injuries, resulting in one of the lowest awards at trial for injuries of that nature.