Mild traumatic brain injury, MTBI, is often difficult to diagnose and as a result insurance companies like ICBC often refuse to pay proper compensation for this injury without judicial determination. In the following personal injury claim the Court acknowledges that patients who sustain complicated MTBIs generally exhibit long term or residual symptoms that often affect…
The question in this personal injury case was whether the claimant should be awarded the maximum amount for pain and suffering, reserved for catastrophic injury, or at something lower. On the evidence, the upper limit set by the Supreme Court of Canada, adjusted for inflation, was $351,000. This limit now applies to all ICBC personal…
This Car accident brain injury award for an 18 year old passenger (Hermanson v. Durkee, 2014 BCSC 877) arose from a single vehicle accident on a forest road in British Columbia. The vehicle left the road which resulting in the ICBC claimant suffering a severe traumatic brain injury and ruptured spleen. Because of the location of the motor vehicle accident there…
In this crosswalk personal injury occurring in Port Coquitlam (Paskall v. Scheithauer,2014 BCCA 26) the jury found a pedestrian twenty percent fault for her fractured her skull and traumatic brain injury after attempting to cross at a marked crosswalk. The verdict was upheld by the BC Court of Appeal despite the appellants plea that she was lawfully within a…
Following a car accident or other personal injury in which a person has hit their head, been rendered unconscious, or has experienced an altered state of consciousness, Magnetic Resonance Imaging ( MRI) may be ordered to rule out serious brain injury. Most personal injury lawyers want to understand however whether having a normal MRI means…
Experienced personal injury lawyers should know that Diffuse Axonal Brain Injury (DAI) refers to damage at an almost microscopic level to the connections of the brain. “Diffuse” means generalized in the brain. “Axonal” refers to the connections. After a car crash or other accident one may suffer a concussion, however, DAI is beyond a simply…
Age can make a difference to injury claims made with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, ICBC, following a car accident. Personal injury lawyers are well aware of the principle that you “take a victim as you find them”in the Canadian courts. An ICBC lawyer can’t blame a brain injured claimant for having an unusually…
As a personal injury lawyer in Vancouver I have the good fortune of having a Brain Surgeon as a father. In this exclusive video, Dr. R.O. Holness, Neurosurgeon since 1975, touches on the symptoms of brain injury after car accidents. Family members are often the first to contact my personal injury law firm for help after…
In this legal causation personal injury case, (Clements v. Clements, 2012 SCC 32) the Supreme Court of Canada has done its best to clarify for lawyers and claimants when the “but for” causation test can be replaced by the material contribution to risk test in car accident injury cases stating: “[46] The foregoing discussion leads me to the…
In this stunning decision the Supreme Court of Canada has overturned the decision of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal and restored the verdict of the Jury dismissing the infant’s personal injury claim (Annapolis County District School Board v. Marshall,2012 SCC 27). The injury claimant, a four-year-old, was playing with his brothers in front of the family home…