Future Care Injury Award Reduced for Public Funding

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…

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Car Accident Victim Recovers Compensation for only 50% of Losses

This personal injury claimant was found 50% at fault for a car accident. The issue on this court application was whether the claimant should also recover only 50% of his legal costs.(Elima v. Dhaliwal,2018 BCSC 115). This personal injury lawsuit relates to a a motor vehicle accident which occurred at the intersection of Steveston Highway and Coppersmith…

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First Injury Case of 2018 Applies Possibility Test to Past Losses

In this important and first Supreme Court personal injury case of 2018 the court accepts that a claim for past loss of earning capacity involves a consideration of hypothetical events. Therefore an ICBC injury claimant is not required to prove these hypothetical events on a balance of probabilities when claiming loss of past opportunity to earn.(De Groot…

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Prima Facie Inference of Negligence Wins Appeal

This injury claimant was a passenger in a single vehicle accident. The car accident occurred on Stillwater Main Road, a gravel logging road which intersects Highway 101 near Powell River, British Columbia. As the claimant’s vehicle approached the intersection, the driver lost control, the vehicle fishtailed, went up onto an embankment, launched into the air and rolled…

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Nurse Awarded $450,000 for Future Income Loss

This injury claimant was involved in 2 car accidents. In the first she was rear-ended by a cement truck. In the second accident she was in Victoria, on her way to the airport, when the taxi she was in was struck on the side by a minivan driven.(Lauriente v. Schoonhoven,2017 BCSC 2246) The claimant worked as an emergency…

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Injury to Arthritic Hand Warrants $95,000 Pain and Suffering Award

The court concluded that prior to the car accident the claimant had a number of “quiescent but present conditions” in his hands and wrists that would likely have become increasingly symptomatic over time even if the accident had never occurred. This included arthritis of the wrist and thumb. However, the fact that the defendants’ conduct triggered the…

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$180,000 Award for Pain and Suffering in Chronic Pain Syndrome Case

This personal injury case arose from a car accident which occurred at the intersection of 140th Street and 74th Avenue in Surrey when the other vehicle turned left into the path of the claimant’s vehicle. She was 58 year old at the time of the accident and sought compensation for pain and suffering, past income loss, future income loss,…

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Thanksgiving Weekend Car Accident Results in $200,000 Award

For Thanksgiving weekend this ICBC injury claimant was travelling from Vancouver to Kelowna on Highway 1, just east of the Port Mann Bridge, when his vehicle was struck from behind. The other vehicle was then rear ended by another car causing a second impact with the claimant’s vehicle. The claimant continued his planned Thanksgiving day trip to Kelowna after renting a vehicle but…

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ICBC Hired Gun Rejected By the Court in Personal Injury Case

Medical Experts in personal injury cases are supposed to be impartial, independent and absent of bias. Dr. O.M. Sovio was qualified as an expert in orthopedic surgery in this personal injury case but his opinion was rejected by the Court. Dr. Sovio agreed that in the years since 2009 work for the Insurance Corporation of British…

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Lower Burden of Proof for Future Events in Personal Injury Cases

This case provides an important restatement of the law of evidence regarding the burden of proof in personal injury cases: [110]   The burden of proof of actual past events is a balance of probabilities. An assessment of loss of both past and future earning capacity involves consideration of hypothetical events. The plaintiff is not…

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