Effective immediately, amendments have been made to changes to court rules that were implemented earlier this year.

On Feb. 11, 2019, David Eby, Attorney General, announced changes to the B.C. Supreme Court Civil Rules. These changes were designed to reduce legal costs and increase efficiency in motor vehicle litigation by limiting the use of adversarial expert evidence and encouraging the use of neutral court-appointed experts and experts shared by the parties.

Cabinet approved further amendments to court rules on March 22, 2019, providing an increased transitional period for the implementation of the changes announced in February.

These amendments are meant to minimize the impact of the new court rules on cases before the courts. Rule 11-8(11) exempts parties to a motor vehicle action from the limit on adversarial experts in Rule 11-8(3) if the trial date is on or before Dec. 31, 2019. It also permits those same parties who incurred costs for necessary experts prior to Feb. 11, 2019, to recover those expenses.

Learn More:

Limiting use of experts to reduce costs, delays in motor vehicle disputes: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019AG0009-000208