A parking-lot assault didn't excuse a reversing driver, a BC tribunal ruled, testing how far an emergency defence can stretch against ICBC's fault findings.
The Civil Resolution Tribunal of British Columbia has dismissed a vehicle owner's bid to overturn ICBC's finding that her vehicle's driver was fully responsible for a June 3, 2023 collision at a Safeway parking lot in Coquitlam.
According to the decision, issued August 10, 2026, the driver was reversing out of a parking stall when the vehicle struck another vehicle parked in the next stall. Shortly before the collision, the driver's passenger had an altercation with an individual who had approached asking for money. The vehicle owner argued the driver reversed only because the passenger was being assaulted, and asked ICBC to find the driver zero per cent responsible under the "agony of the moment" doctrine - a legal principle shielding drivers from split-second decisions made during genuine emergencies.
ICBC maintained its finding that the driver was fully responsible, arguing the vehicle owner had not shown the assault was connected to the collision.
Under the Accident Claims Regulation, a challenger must prove both that ICBC acted improperly or unreasonably in assessing fault, and that the driver was in fact less responsible than found. Tribunal Member Amanda Binnie found it unnecessary to assess ICBC's investigation, because the vehicle owner could not clear the second hurdle regardless.
Statements from the driver, the other vehicle's owner and an independent witness told a different story: the passenger was not in the vehicle when the driver began reversing, meaning there was no imminent threat at that moment. Even accepting that the individual had moved toward a nearby bag, neither the driver nor the passenger showed how close that person was to the vehicle - and the evidence placed the person some distance away by then.
The tribunal also pointed to other options available to the driver - the vehicle was near the store entrance, with other people in the parking lot, and no weapon was ever produced. A reasonable driver would not have reversed without more care in those circumstances, it found.
Even so, it accepted that agony of the moment can apply in assault-related emergencies, but found the imminent threat had already passed by the time the driver began reversing. The tribunal found the driver fully responsible for the collision and dismissed the claim, ordering the vehicle owner to pay ICBC $25 in tribunal fees within 30 days.
