In previous blog posts, we discussed recent cases where damages were awarded for assault injuries.
In Simpson v. Tiechrieb 2021 BCSC 2010, the 18 year-old injured claimant was severely and savagely beaten with a baseball bat by the defendant after he stumbled into his yard in the early morning hours after a high school graduation party. Apparently, the defendant who was 39 years-old and 220 lbs was concerned about a rash of thefts in the area. The injured claimant was only 135 lbs. The injuries were so severe that they were described by the attending RCMP office as “the worst he had ever seen, including cases where the victim was beaten to death.” Some of his multiple injuries included a severe skull fracture and significant brain swelling. He underwent emergency brain surgery. He was placed on life support and remained in a coma for 9 months. While he can now feed himself small bite size foot and he has some capacity to communicate, he is unable to attend to most tasks due to the severe brain injury he suffered. He required 24 hour care for the rest of his life and he has been placed in a long-term care home. The defendant pleaded guilty to the criminal charge. This case concerned the civil claim for compensation.
The trial judge awarded approximately $7,000,000.00 in damages. Damages for pain and suffering were awarded in the upper end of the range for pain and suffering ($393,000.00) given the seriousness of the injuries and the profound impact they have had on the injured claimant’s life. In addition, large awards were made for loss of future earning capacity ($1,367,000.00) as the injured claimant is disabled from ever working and for future care costs ($3,000,000.00) as he requires 24 hour care for the rest of his life.
Please see this CBC news article to read more about this very tragic assault injury case.