Legal Precedents and Damages Awards in British Columbia Supreme Court Cases
Explore various legal precedents and damages awards in recent British Columbia Supreme Court cases, including future income loss assessments, housekeeping capacity claims, management fee considerations, and mitigation efforts. Learn about key decisions impacting plaintiffs' financial circumstances and the reasonableness of mitigation efforts.
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Presentation Transcript
Alison L. Murray, QC Murray Jamieson
DAMAGES Future Income Loss MacGregor v. Bergen, 2019 BCSC 315 The court must account for the net present value of future losses under s. 56 of the Law and Equity Act, even in the absence of expert evidence.
DAMAGES Future Income Loss Broad v. Clark, 2018 BCSC 1068 28 year old awarded to age 70. Thomson v. Thiessen, 2018 BCSC 1353 67-year-old awarded to age 75. De La Garza v. Carson, 2018 BCSC 1858 52 year-old awarded to age 70.
DAMAGES Future Income Loss and Statistics Gill v. Lai, 2019 BCCA 103 Male labour market statistics used for female plaintiff. Statistics may incorporate historic and inequitable gender-based pay differences.
DAMAGES Housekeeping Capacity Elpel v. Glover, 2018 BCSC 1404 $35,000 in past loss of capacity and $45,000 in future capacity. Broomfield v. Lof, 2019 BCSC 1155 $32,760 in past loss of capacity and $80,000 in future capacity. Riley v. Ritsco, 2018 BCCA 366 Segregated non-pecuniary awards should be avoided in the absence of special circumstances. Forghani-Esfahani v. Lester, 2019 BCSC 332/Ju v. Morpurgo, 2019 BCSC 194/Tsai v. Murdoch, 2019 BCSC 179 No discrete award made.
DAMAGES Management Fee Turner v. Dionne, 2018 BCSC 1075 Modest management fee awarded because: No evidence about what the plaintiff had done with the judgment award since the trial; and, Plaintiff, although mathematically challenged, was thoughtful and mature and did not have any problems handling money responsibly. Pestano v. Wong, 2019 BCCA 141 Management fee of $1,738,400 reduced to $50,000.
DAMAGES Mitigation Gill v. Lai, 2019 BCCA 103 The plaintiff s personal circumstances are relevant under the subjective/objective test for the reasonableness of mitigation efforts. Noori v. Hughes, 2018 BCSC 965 Appropriate to consider plaintiff s financial circumstances. Sangha v. Inverter Technologies Ltd., 2019 BCSC 466 Failure to seek out volunteer work results in 10% reduction. Ranahan v. Iron Horse, 2018 BCCA 75 Whether reasonable efforts to mitigate include moving from a community to find work depend on the circumstances.
DAMAGES Non-pecuniary Damages Riley v. Ritsco, 2018 BCCA 366 There is no legal impediment that obliges a claimant to advance expert medical evidence in order to advance a claim for mental injuries A plaintiff is only entitled to net past income loss even where there is an agreement to repay a third party insurer more than the amount recoverable from the tortfeasor.
DOCUMENT PRODUCTION Holmberg v. McMullen, 2019 BCSC 1434 Must be medical evidence to support connection between documents sought and matters in issue. Dupas v. Richmond, 2018 BCSC 1059 CPP disability records plainly relevant to a claim for non- pecuniary damages. Unredacted copies of medical records are necessary for the court to review. Kim v. Samuel, 2018 BCSC 1483 Immigration records regarding pre-existing psychological state not necessary and an invasion of privacy.
EXPERTS Tsai v. Murdoch, 2019 BCSC 179 Whether an expert is qualified to give opinion evidence is a matter exclusively for the trial judge. Karpowicz v. Glessing, 2018 BCSC 887 A party wanting to rely on an adverse party s expert must re-serve the opinion.
IMEs Balingoay v. Dhindsa, 2018 BCSC 2307 Plan for an IME well in advance. White v. Fan, 2019 BCSC 785 Medical evidence in support of an application for an IME is not an independent requirement. Tran v. Abbot, 2018 BCCA 365 There is no requirement for exceptional circumstances to support a second IME.
IME - TERMS Cook v. Kang, 2019 BCSC 12 No chaperone; No rigid time limit for IME to start; No time limit for length of IME; Consent forms to be signed; No restrictions on examiner s questions; No restriction on the terminology; No terms imposed on ICBC; and, No restriction on future IMEs.
PRACTICE Order of Witnesses Firman v. Asadi, 2019 BCSC 270 The best practice is for the plaintiff to be called as the first witness. The order of witnesses should be addressed at the TMC. Any admissibility issues should be identified at the commencement of the trial. Counsel should have a comprehensive document agreement in every trial. The parties should strive to prepare an agreed statement of facts which should include a chronology.
SURVEILLANCE ISSUES Brundige v. Bolton, 2017 BCSC 2664 Consequences for failure to list privilege documents prior to conducting XFD. Karpowicz v. Glessing, 2018 BCSC 887 No consequences for failure to promptly list surveillance where no prejudice. Williams v. Sekhon, 2019 BCSC 1511 What is reasonable investigation?
