The injury claimant, 42 years of age was sexually assaulted by her father and her personal injury lawyer outlined allegations of repetitive sexual abuse commencing when she was a child. She also alleged that the Province of BC placed her back in the residence with her father.The claimant sought general damages, special damages for increased cost of care, aggravated…
This pedestrian suffered serious injuries when he was struck by a runaway snowmobile. The snowmobile operator had been thrown off the machine and the snowmobile sped one kilometre across open terrain before striking the claimant (Passerin v. Webb,2018 BCSC 289). The snowmobiler was not using the the tether cord which would have automatically shut off…
In this car accident personal injury case the claim for past loss of earning capacity was dismissed as speculative. Even though the trial judge used the wrong and higher standard of balance of probability, the Court of Appeal still dismissed the appeal. (Rousta v. MacKay,2018 BCCA 29). The ICBC claimant was driving on Taylor Way…
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…
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…
In a stunning personal injury decision the Supreme Court has reduced a damage award for a brain injured 27 year old claimant. The court has taken judicial notice that cocaine is highly addictive, with heavy users facing a significant long-term and possibly life-long risk of relapse.(Kirilenko v. Bowie,2017 BCSC 2048) There was no real issue that…
The Court of Appeal has rejected the argument that the late admission of ICBC’s experts reports created a prejudice to the claimant. The claimant was injured in a car accident and sought damages in excess of $3 million. The trial judge awarded damages of less than $850,000. Among other things, the judge found that: (a) the…
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…
This “slip and fall” personal injury claim was brought after a customer of the Chopped Leaf Restaurant in Kelowna slipped on an unknown food item (Robinson v. 1390709 Alberta Ltd.,2017 BCCA 175). The Court of Appeal has confirmed two important elements in establishing negligence in slip and fall cases: It is not good enough for a business…
This appeal from a $15,000 award as compensation for loss of use of his Ferrari resulting from the respondent car dealership’s negligence was dismissed. The court has updated and clarified the law that applies when a claimant loses the use of a vehicle, especially if the vehicle would be used to make profit, such as a work…