More than seven years after two sulphuric acid spills along Highway 3B in Trail prompted thousands of insurance claims, a civil lawsuit launched by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) remains unresolved in B.C. Supreme Court.
The public insurer filed a notice of civil claim in October 2018 on behalf of affected policyholders against a range of parties, including Teck Metals Ltd., International Raw Materials Ltd. and Westcan Bulk Transport Ltd., alleging negligence linked to two acid spill incidents in April and May 2018 and claiming the spills caused damage to thousands of vehicles.
An unknown number of motorists drove through the affected area before the spills were fully contained, prompting what ICBC described at the time as an unusually high volume of damage claims and requests from drivers to have their vehicles tested.
ICBC has said the lawsuit was brought to recover costs it paid out following the incidents, which involved two separate sulphuric acid leaks from a tanker truck on Highway 3B, the provincial highway that runs through Trail.
The insurer previously reported hundreds of vehicles were declared total losses and that thousands more were submitted for inspection.
The allegations set out in the notice of civil claim have not been proven in court.
Court records show the case has remained active in the British Columbia Supreme Court for several years, with procedural matters continuing to move through the system.
In a related procedural dispute, Justice Paul Riley ruled in 2020 that while the action proceeds, ICBC must continue paying storage costs for vehicles it had declared total write-offs.
Publicly available court documents indicate activity related to the lawsuit as recently as 2024, though no final judgment or settlement has been reported as of Jan.6, 2026.
The lawsuit names multiple defendants and alleges failures related to the transportation, handling and response to the acid spills. Little public information has emerged in recent years, reflecting the slow pace typical of complex civil litigation involving multiple parties and claims for financial recovery.
Neither ICBC nor the defendants named in the lawsuit have issued recent public statements outlining the current status of the proceedings.
Court officials do not comment on active cases beyond confirming their presence on the docket.
The 2018 spills caused widespread disruption in the Trail area and generated significant concern among drivers who reported travelling the highway around the time of the spills.
While individual insurance claims were largely resolved years ago, the broader legal effort to recover costs has continued largely out of public view.