Source: http://bc-injury-law.com/blog/2017/03
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 07:53:02+00:00

Document:
Helpful reasons for judgement were published today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, showing the Plaintiff friendly scope of the Indivisible Injury principle.
In today’s case (Griffioen v. Arnold) the Plaintiff was involved in two vehicle collisions. The first in 2011. She sued the at fault motorist who admitted liability. She was involved in a second collision in 2014. She was a passenger in her husband’s vehicle. He was at fault for the second crash but she chose not to sue and the limitation period to do so expired. The second crash aggravated the injuries from the first.
 In this case, the plaintiff elected not to sue her husband, who was the person at fault in the second accident. She admits that he was at fault and that her right to bring an action is now statute-barred by the Limitation Act, SBC 2012, c. 13.
 There can be no question that Athey [Athey v. Leonati,  3 S.C.R. 458] requires joint and several liability for indivisible injuries. Once a trial judge has concluded as a fact that an injury is indivisible, then the tortfeasors are jointly liable to the plaintiff. They can still seek apportionment (contribution and indemnity) from each other, but absent contributory negligence, the plaintiff can claim the entire amount from any of them.
 The approach to apportionment in Long v. Thiessen [(1968), 65 W.W.R. 577 (C.A.)] is therefore no longer applicable to indivisible injuries. The reason is that Long v. Thiessen pre-supposes divisibility; Long requires courts to take a single injury and divide it up into constituent causes or points in time, and assess damages twice; once on the day before the second tort, and once at trial. Each defendant is responsible only for their share of the injury and the plaintiff can recover only the appropriate portion from each tortfeasor.
 In Pinch v. Hofstee, 2015 BCSC 1888, the plaintiff claimed compensation arising from a motor vehicle accident. He was subsequently injured in a second accident and the injuries from the two accidents were found to be indivisible. The court considered Bradley v. Groves, but found that any claim for the second accident was statute-barred by section 10(1) of the Workers Compensation Act. Burnyeat J. held that the plaintiff could not recover full damages from the defendant in the first accident.
 I conclude that the Legislature has made it clear that the principles set out in Bradley, supra, do not apply where there is a statutory bar to recovery of what may be found to be indivisible damages. Section 10(1) of the Act is but one example of the inability to recover indivisible damages arising out of a separate breach of duty of care. A further example might be illustrated by a situation whereby proceedings relating to a first tortious act were not commenced within the limitation period and a second tortious act occurred. In those circumstances, I cannot conclude that damages would be available where an action was not commenced relating to the first act, a subsequent act caused injuries which were found to be indivisible from the first act, and a claim was advanced against the second tortfeasor for damages for the injuries caused both by the first and the second tortious acts. Just as a claim for damages for a second tortious act could not “give life to” recovery of damages for a first act where a limitation period had expired so also s. 10(1) of the Act has taken away “any right and rights of action” available to Mr. Pinch and any recoverable “damages, contributions or indemnity” that might have been available to Mr. Pinch as a result of MVA #2.
 In Sandhu v. Vuong, 2016 BCSC 1490, Master Baker followed Pinch v. Hofstee, and held that the defendant in one action could not commence a third party proceeding against a person liable for a second accident that happened in Manitoba because the accident there was statute-barred by a “no-fault” automobile insurance regime.
 I do not agree that the situation here is the same as where an action is statute-barred as in both Pinch and Sandhu. There was no right of action in British Columbia against the person liable for the second accident. In Pinch, the Workers Compensation Act prevented an action and in Sandhu, the court held that as there was no right of action in Manitoba, there could not be a right in British Columbia.
 In both Pinch and Sandhu, the plaintiffs were not simply beyond the time limit for commencing an action, but would be barred by statute from commencing an action even if they had done so within the statutory time limits.
 It seems to me that it was open to the defendants in this case to commence a third-party action provided it was commenced within the time limit that started when the defendants became aware of their right to commence an action against the plaintiff’s husband. That is, the time limits for the defendants may not be the same for a third party action as for an action by the plaintiff.
 The plaintiff obviously knew of her right to commence an action from the time of the accident. The defendants were aware of their right to commence an action from the time they discovered they might be liable for some damages from the second accident. I therefore find that Pinch and Sandhu are distinguishable from the facts of this case and in the circumstances, I am not prepared to apportion liability to the plaintiff’s husband in reliance on the principle of indivisibility and will apply the principle in Bradley.
Interesting reasons for judgement were published today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, finding a street racer partly liable for the death of a passenger in another vehicle that he did not collide with.
From the vault of how not to represent yourself in court, reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, admonishing a self represented litigant for providing the Court with perjured evidence.
 This turn of events significantly undermined the reliability of the defendant’s evidence.
 … the plaintiff will be awarded one day of special costs for the unnecessary delay in this matter for the consideration of the perjured evidence from the defendant.
Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, demonstrating judicial discretion in dealing with costs after a plaintiff fails to beat a defence formal offer at trial.
In today’s case (Barta v. DaSilva) the Plaintiff was injured in a 2007 collision and sued for damages. The Plaintiff alleged traumatic brain injury and argued that he had millions in losses as a result. At trial a jury rejected the alleged brain injury and awarded damages of $77,000 for the Plaintiff’s proven injuries. Prior to trial ICBC offered to settle the case for $150,000.
The Plaintiff sought full costs for the trial where ICBC sought to have the Plaintiff pay their post offer costs or simply strip each party of costs for the trial itself. In the end the court ordered that each party bear their own costs of the trial. In finding this fair the court noted that due to the Plaintiff’s ‘meagre‘ income there would be “no utility in imposing the costs of the trial on the plaintiff.”.
 The evidence at trial indicates that the plaintiff’s assets were severely depleted by the effects of the financial downturn in 2008 and 2009. Mr. Creighton informed me that his client’s income is now meagre. I can see no utility in imposing the costs of the trial on the plaintiff.
Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, New Westminster Registry, assessing damages for lingering intermittent soft tissue injuries.
In today’s case (Erwin v. Buhler) the Plaintiff was involved in a 2011 rear end collision that the Defendant was responsible for. The Plaintiff alleged that he suffered from bursitis in his hip due to the crash but the Court found this condition was most likely caused by other factors. The Court did find the Plaintiff suffered various soft tissue injuries, some of which remained symptomatic on an intermittent basis at the time of trial.
 I am, however, satisfied that the plaintiff suffered neck, low back and shoulder injuries as a result of the car accident. Notwithstanding Dr. McGraw’s assessment that the plaintiff no longer experiences headaches or neck pain, I find that he has in fact been troubled by these symptoms on an intermittent basis. His low back was really sore for about a month after which Dr. McGraw assumed the pain was resolved. I also accept that he has intermittent low back and neck pain.
 I have concluded from all of the evidence that the plaintiff suffered neck, shoulder and low back injuries at the time of the accident. Although the symptoms seem to have mostly resolved within one year of the accident, he has continued to experience intermittent back, neck and shoulder problems related to activity.
 It is difficult to discriminate between the impacts on the plaintiff’s life arising from the trochanter bursitis and the other soft tissue injuries he suffered. Nonetheless, I accept that he is at an age where the severity and duration of ongoing pain, albeit intermittent, is troublesome for him. His compensable injuries co-exist with his non-compensable injuries. I am satisfied that the demands of his work elevate his trochanter bursitis symptoms but also his neck and back symptoms. It is hard to estimate whether he will eventually become asymptomatic in his neck and back areas but I find that they will continue to impact his life in the near future. The defendant need not compensate the plaintiff for his hip complaints but, his overall quality of life seems to be affected by the compensable injuries on an intermittent but troublesome basis for him.
 The cases cited by the plaintiff did not provide much assistance in assessing the plaintiff’s non-pecuniary damages. In my view, the circumstances described in Stein are most helpful to my assessment of the plaintiff’s claim in this case.
 Overall, I am satisfied that the plaintiff is entitled to non-pecuniary damages of $40,000.

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