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A B.C. Supreme Court judge has hammered ICBC’s litigation strategy, pouring accelerant on the “dumpster fire” brawl between Attorney-General David Eby and B.C. lawyers.

“This is the type of case that was ripe for settlement, as demonstrated by the small difference between the plaintiff’s offer and the award made,” Justice Neena Sharma fumed in an oral decision Jan. 23 published only last week.

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She was angry the insurance giant went to trial on a case that should have been settled.

“I was informed the defendant had made a settlement offer, but withdrew it for ‘institutional’ reasons,” Sharma said.

“Whatever ‘institutional’ reasons are, they do not protect in any way a litigant from bearing the consequences of its choices in the litigation. Were it in my power to award more in costs in favour of the plaintiff, I would have done so.”

The decision caused personal injury lawyers, who have stridently opposed recent government changes to the rules of litigation and the right to sue, to gleefully light up the Twittersphere attacking Eby.