ICBC said in a recent court case in Victoria, outside defense counsel representing ICBC contacted an ICBC employee and obtained claims histories of members of the jury.

The statement says that the disclosure of this information was a mistake, and a serious one at that. But like most mistakes, it was also one that cannot now be undone. The disclosure was completely inappropriate and is far from an accepted practice at ICBC. The action taken was contrary to the corporate policy and Code of Ethics, as well as the guidelines manual that ICBC issues to all defense counsel. It also violated the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

ICBC says it began dealing with this breach of confidentiality immediately by contacting the plaintiff’s counsel, judge and jury the morning after the disclosure was discovered. The Corporation terminated the contracted defense counsel on the matter before the court and reported the issue to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

In the statement, Jon Schubert , President and CEO of ICBC said that to the very best of his knowledge, this was an isolated incident, adding "All we can do now is take immediate and substantial steps to do our best to ensure that it does not happen again."