Family Decries No-Fault Insurance After West Vancouver Crash
Family members of Annie Kong are speaking out against British Columbia’s no-fault insurance system following the fatal crash in West Vancouver that claimed her life in August 2022. They argue the system has compounded their grief by limiting their compensation and restricting their ability to seek further legal action.
Annie Kong was one of two people killed when a vehicle drove into a wedding party on August 20, 2022. Her son, Nigel Kong, from Denmark, shared that his mother looked forward to the event where the family could all gather. “She was talking about that all year,” he said, adding that his sister was planning to bring her family, as well. “We can all be together, at what would have been our home that we grew up in in Vancouver, where there was the four of us (there) would now be the extended family, the entire brood.”
The crash occurred when a vehicle went from a shared driveway between two homes and crashed into the wedding. The family says the no-fault insurance system, introduced in May 2021 by the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC), has added to their anguish. The system limited their lump-sum compensation and restricted their right to sue for additional damages.
“We get placed under this no-fault legislation, which essentially means that there is no accountability for this accident,” said Joanna Moy, Kong’s daughter. “And with that, we had to sit with an ICBC claims adjuster. They look up my mother’s ‘life’s worth’ on a graph on a table, and because she is a homemaker with no financial trappings, no big CEO title to her name, it is then calculated out at a very nominal cost.”
Liong Kong, Annie Kong’s husband, witnessed the crash. “I held her in my arms,” he recounted. “She bled to death while I was holding her. “So, one message that I would like the public to know is, when you get the refund of $100 a year (from ICBC), it is at the expense of the victims and victims’ families,” he said.
The no-fault insurance model, designed to lower rates, reduce debt, and expedite care for victims, has been a topic of debate ahead of the upcoming provincial election. While the BC New Democrats have touted the financial benefits of the system, the B.C. Conservatives are advocating for exemptions to allow families to sue for compensation in some cases.
ICBC maintains that the system provides access to care and recovery benefits and holds drivers accountable. However, lawyers point out that the system prevents victims from suing at-fault drivers unless criminal charges are involved. The Kong family’s case, where the driver faces a provincial Motor Vehicle Act offence, highlights this limitation.
Michael Elliott, president of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., said that criminal convictions for driving offenses are rare. “Most offences (plead) down … (and) are categorized under the Motor Vehicle Act, not as a criminal offence, and so there are very few criminal convictions for driving offences in our province.”
The family asserts that the charge of “driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention” does not reflect the severity of the incident. Nigel Kong stated, “Again, two dead, seven critically injured, this mass devastation, hysteria and chaos, and we came to essentially a ticket.”
B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad has proposed that victims with life-altering injuries should be exempt from the no-fault regime. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth defended the current system, pointing to rate freezes and rebates for drivers.
Elliott described an ICBC system “incredibly complex” without the help of lawyers. According to Elliott, “The experience has been a disaster for any British Columbian injured in a motor vehicle accident in this province.”
Liong Kong expressed the shock of friends from other countries, who asked, “What country are you living in, to have this kind of law that you have no legal redress, you can’t voice out anything at all, and your life is fixed according to a schedule? What kind of law is that?’”
