ICBC’s attempt to bill a driver $4,300 to fix a car he had hit has failed because it provided “extremely limited” evidence of the damage and repairs submitted to B.C.’s civil resolution tribunal.

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Instead, an adjudicator ordered Ali Reza Abolfathi to pay ICBC $150 to fix the tail light cover he admitted to breaking when he backed into the car at a slow speed, according to the decision.

Abolfathi told the tribunal he was driving less than five km/h when his back bumper hit the back of the other car on the driver’s side and the cover broke. All of the lights inside continued to work.

He described the other car as “old and beat up” with rust and bumps, the ruling said.

“The respondent does not dispute damaging the vehicle but says the damage was less than $200 and was limited to a plastic tail light cover,” wrote adjudicator and tribunal vice-chair Christopher Rivers.

ICBC received a claim in July 2022 from the other driver, identified only as ML, for damages caused by Abolfathi, who was driving an uninsured vehicle, according to the decision.

ICBC told the tribunal it paid $4,328.90 to repair the car with its only evidence being an internal screenshot of what it says it paid to a repair shop in September 2022 for new and used parts, to “remove and replace,” and painting charges, and costs for alternative transportation.

ICBC paid the shop for repairs to the left tail light, bumper and trunk latch on behalf of the insured driver and then tried to get that money back from Abolfathi, based on the fact he “drove negligently.”

Abolfathi doesn’t dispute he drove negligently but “argues the repairs went well beyond the damage he caused” and he shouldn’t be held responsible, the decision said.

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Rivers ruled ICBC “certainly has not proved its damages on a balance of probabilities” because it failed to provide any photos of the damages or repairs, witness statements or opinions about the likely cause of the damage, an invoice from the repair shop, or any itemized replacement parts, nor did it explain the charges it claimed.

“Its sole piece of documentary evidence is an internally generated document that apparently reproduces parts of a repair shop invoice,” Rivers wrote.

Without a breakdown of costs, the only evidence he had about the likely cost of a tail light cover and its installation is from Abolfathi, who said it would be less than $200, he said.

“So on a judgment basis, I award ICBC $150 in damages,” Rivers ruled.