Personal Injury Claimant Awarded over $250,000.00 for Car Accident Injury

The claimant was injured in a car crash in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast near Gibsons, British Columbia (Milliken v. Rowe, 2011 BCSC 1458). While the injury claimant  was turning left at an intersection the other driver attempted to pass on the left  striking  the driver’s side of the claimant’s car.
The personal injury claimant  was 37 when she was injured. She suffered from injuries to her right hip and back that caused significant discomfort and effects of those injuries were mostly resolved within about two years.  However the claimant suffered from right shoulder pain that did not resolve for over four years. The medical treatment  for the the pain and suffering concerning her right shoulder would be  invasive surgery. Whether successful or not, the proposed complex surgery will require an extensive period of recuperation of from 3 to 6 months.
In awarding $85,000.00 for pain and suffering the judge set out a list of items to consider when awarding compensation under this heading:
(a) age of the plaintiff;
(b) nature of the injury;
(c) severity and duration of pain;
(d) disability;
(e) emotional suffering; and
(f) loss or impairment of life;
(g) impairment of family, marital and social relationships;
(h) impairment of physical and mental abilities;
(i) loss of lifestyle; and
(j) the claimant’s stoicism
As a result of this car accident the claimant was awarded a total of:
1)  Loss of enjoyment of life: $85,000;
2)    $3,500 for the loss of employment bonuses she would have earned but for the car crash;
3)    $95,000  for her impaired income earning capacity;
4)    $42,900 to compensate her for the cost of her future care;
5)    $15,000 for her past and future loss of homemaking capacity;
6)    $6,753 for her past wage loss; and
7)    $5,513 in out of pocket expenses .
TOTAL: $253,666
Posted by Mr. Renn A. Holness