When a claimant suffers a personal injury in a car accident the loss of income may not occur right after the injury but can take years to manifest. In this case review we examine the case of a young lawyer suffering a chronic pain condition at the beginning of her career.(Harry v. Powar,2018 BCSC 845) The…
The injury claimant was stopped on Highway 1 at the Prest Road exit ramp when a flatbed truck swerved and struck the left driver’s side of her vehicle. Shaken by the collision, at first the claimant took no notice of any injury. She then developed severe symptoms in the following days. The claimant was found…
An offer to settle in any personal injury case should be clear and unambiguous. The claimant and ICBC should use plain language when settling car accident cases. The offer of settlement should avoid colloquialisms or idioms that are understood by a limited audience. In today’s case review an ICBC insured sought to deny an injury…
This husband and wife suffered brain injuries from carbon monoxide (“CO”) emissions when maintenance of their living room fireplace was negligently performed. The fireplace had been removed and later reinstalled and serviced by the defendant heating company (Edwards v. Parkinson’s Heating Ltd.,2018 BCSC 593). The wife was awarded $50,000 and the husband $200,000 for the pain, suffering and…
This injury claimant was awarded more than $1.2 million after suffering a traumatic brain injury. He was driving from Kelowna to Vernon when his truck was side-swiped, forced into oncoming traffic and collided with a city bus. The paramedics found the claimant conscious but confused and disoriented. He had an obvious bump on his head. He was not oriented…
Aggravated damages compensate a claimant for intangible injuries, such as distress and humiliation, which are caused by a defendant’s conduct. The appellants were found to have defamed the plaintiff and the judge awarded damages of $1,205,000 and special costs, and granted a permanent injunction against the appellants, restraining publication of any defamatory words concerning the Plaintiff. All…
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal finding a truck driver solely liable for the serious injuries suffered by a motorcyclist totaling $838,430 in losses. The injury claimant was seriously injured when the motorcycle he was riding collided with the front end of the left-turning transport truck (Ranahan v. Iron Horse Enterprises & Logistics Inc.,2018 BCCA…
In this precedent changing personal injury Court of Appeal decision, the injury claimant, struck by another vehicle on the passenger side where she was seated, was awarded $1,782,068, including $418,000 for loss of housekeeping capacity at trial. We focus on this exciting new statement from the court of appeal embracing this claim for loss of housekeeping capacity…
A car accident injury claimant is entitled to appeal a Supreme Court decision to the Court of Appeal. However, as shown in our case study, absent a palpable and overriding error affecting the trial judge’s assessment of the facts, the Appeal Court will not interfere with a finding of fact or an inference based on those facts.…
The amount awarded for cost of future care can be adjusted up or down to take into account the availability of other benefits. In this Court of Appeal decision the court reaffirms this principle as it relates to the likelihood of continued publicly funded home care from Alberta Health Services (AHS). The injury claimant was involved…