Source: http://bc-injury-law.com/blog/2015/04
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 16:34:41+00:00

Document:
Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, New Westminster Registry, with critical comments regarding a medico-legal opinion.
 Dr. O’Farrell is a retired orthopaedic surgeon. He has not done any spinal surgery for 10 years. He stopped doing spinal surgery to allow room for younger, more skilled people to provide that service. His last scientific paper was published in 1996 and his last involvement in research was in 2003. He continues to see patients with back pain.
 Dr. O’Farrell paid no regard to the plaintiff’s upper back injury and resulting symptoms. He recorded no complaints from the plaintiff regarding his upper back sensations of numbness and tingling in his right and left arms. He recalled that the plaintiff’s left arm improved but there were residual symptoms in his right arm.
 Dr. O’Farrell did not recall performing an upper extremity examination of the plaintiff. He said it was possible he had not examined the plaintiff in that region.
 He was asked about Dr. Lee, Dr. Watt and Dr. Sahjpaul identifying brisk reflexes in their examinations of the plaintiff. He was provided the notes from Dr. Lee, Dr. Watt and Dr. Sahjpaul. Dr. O’Farrell agreed that increased tone is evidence of spinal cord compression but said he did not find any indication of that condition in his examination. It was clear that if one accepted Dr. Sahjpaul’s findings, this would have been confirmatory evidence of a spinal cord compression.
(i) He said the results of the lower extremity neurological exam were normal. Though Dr. Watt had earlier found deep tendon brisk reflexes, he believes these reflexes might not be abnormal.
 Dr. O’Farrell conceded that Dr. Sahjpaul’s diagnosis of the C5/6 and C6/7 degeneration was persuasive and that he would defer to Dr. Sahjpaul in regard to that opinion.
 I have concluded that Dr. O’Farrell’s investigation of the plaintiff, his clinical notes taken during his examination of the plaintiff and the differences between his notes and underlying facts in the report were flawed. Most significantly, he did not do an upper body examination of Mr. Chenier and did not observe other symptoms that confirmed a spinal cord compression.
 Dr. O’Farrell’s recent professional activity, in contrast with Dr. Sahjpaul’s practice, persuades me that the opinion of the latter is to be given more weight. Dr. Sahjpaul, as a neurologist, has more current expertise that is focused on the type of spinal injuries suffered by the plaintiff.
 Dr. O’Farrell also confirmed that he would defer to Dr. Sahjpaul’s opinions concerning the plaintiff’s upper spine injury.
 Thus, I conclude that Dr. O’Farrell’s opinions regarding the plaintiff’s low back injury and his upper spine injuries and their connection to his pre-existing degenerative disc condition are not persuasive. Where his opinion conflicts with that of Dr. Sahjpaul, I prefer Dr. Sahjpaul’s opinion.
There is no reason why the principles of negligence can’t apply to a situation where one pedestrian negligently walks into another causing injury. Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, demonstrating this.
In today’s case (Faircrest v. Buchanan) the “unintentionally bumped into (the plaintiff) while leaving her office to attend to a patient”. The Plaintiff fell down and suffered a fractured hip.
 A successful action in negligence requires that the plaintiff demonstrate (1) that the defendant owed him a duty of care; (2) that the defendant’s behaviour breached the standard of care; (3) that the plaintiff sustained damage; and (4) that the damage was caused, in fact and in law, by the defendant’s breach. I shall examine each of these elements of negligence in turn. As I will explain, Mr. Mustapha’s claim fails because he has failed to establish that his damage was caused in law by the defendant’s negligence. In other words, his damage are too remote to allow recovery.
 The first and the third elements are not in issue, since Fraser Health acknowledges that Nurse Buchanan owed the plaintiff a duty of care and that the plaintiff was injured in the Collision. Fraser Health also acknowledges that it is vicariously liable if Nurse Buchanan is found to have been negligent.
 As to the fourth element, Fraser Health contends that even if the plaintiff’s injuries were in fact caused by the Collision, they were too remote to warrant damages, and therefore, legal causation has not been established. Fraser Health submits that a person of ordinary fortitude would not have fallen as a result of the Collision, or if she did, she would not have sustained injury.
 I do not agree. There is no evidence that Ms. Faircrest’s arthritis, age, or stature had anything to do with her sustaining injuries in the Collision. Although she may have walked more slowly than others, that was not a relevant factor in the outcome. It was reasonably foreseeable that if Nurse Buchanan, who weighed 185 lbs., while not watching where she was walking, collided with a female volunteer, that volunteer might fall and suffer physical injuries. The injuries are not too remote to warrant damages, if the standard of care was breached.
The duty of pedestrians to one another is to act as an ordinary person would in the circumstances, using the degree of care and vigilance which the circumstances and the interests of others using the walkway demand.
In this case, the defendant, Moberg, failed to consider the possibility of other pedestrians in the parking lot despite the configuration of the lot which necessitated pedestrians to cross the lot to reach the shops. Given the proximity of the mall to long term care and rehabilitation facilities and given Moberg’s regular presence at the mall, Moberg should have been alert to the presence of pedestrians including disabled persons in the vicinity. He did not look to his right as he quickly rounded the rear of his delivery van to reach the driver’s door. His failure to look for other pedestrians was the cause of the collision.
 In the present case, it is, of course, relevant that Connolly Lodge is a residential mental health facility and that Nurse Buchanan had a duty to react quickly to the disturbance caused by one of the patients. Nevertheless, her quick reaction was no reason to be heedless of other persons standing or walking in the Lodge who might be in her path as she proceeded to attend to the patient. Her failure to notice the presence of the plaintiff in her path caused the Collision.
 I therefore find that Nurse Buchanan was negligent, and that Fraser Health is vicariously liable for her negligence.
Reasons for judgement were released today ordering a Plaintiff to pay costs and post offer double costs after having his personal injury claim dismissed at trial.
 The plaintiff had in hand the defendant driver’s witness statement when he received the offer to settle. Six months later, the parties conducted examinations for discovery. The only witness called by the plaintiff was his girlfriend. He should have been aware of the reliability and shortcomings in her evidence by then. Further, following examinations for discovery, the plaintiff was positioned to see the perils of his position on liability.
 The defendants characterize their offer as a “walk-a-way” offer. While a nuisance offer may bear no real relationship to a plaintiff’s claim and not constitute an offer reasonably capable of acceptance, the court has recognized a walk-a-away offer may bear a realistic relationship to the plaintiff’s claim, reasonably capable of acceptance and, if rejected, justify an award of double costs, Riley, v. Riley, 2010 BCSC 822. In Riley, the court found the plaintiff possessed all the information the defendant intended to rely on at trial, which in this case, would be the evidence of the defendant driver. There were some potential accident witnesses at the scene potentially available to the plaintiff, but he could not call them because he and his girlfriend chose not to obtain any contact information from them, electing to go to a pub for a beer and to watch the hockey game.
 The weaknesses of the plaintiff’s case on liability were quite apparent, his testimony rife with inconsistencies and improbabilities. I agree with the defendants that the plaintiff should have readily recognized the high risk of dismissal that he faced. I note the offer was open for acceptance any time before 4:00 p.m. on the last business day before commencement of the first day of trial. The long period between the tender of the offer and trial afforded ample time to consider the offer, which I find was one reasonably capable of acceptance.
 See, besides Riley: Henry v. Bennett, 2014 BCSC 1963 at paras. 29 and 30; Houston v. O’Connor, 2011 BCSC 509 at para. 59; Catalyst Paper Corporation v. Companhia de Navegação Norsul, 2009 BCCA 16 [“Catalyst”]; Brooks v. Gilchrist, 2011 BCSC 56 at para. 16; and Bay v. Pasieka, 2014 BCSC 809 at para. 20.
 It seems to me that the trend of recent authorities is to the effect that the costs rules should be utilized to have a winnowing function in the litigation process. The costs rules require litigants to make careful assessments of the strength or lack thereof of their cases at commencement and throughout the course of litigation. The rules should discourage the continuance of doubtful cases or defences. This of course imposes burdens on counsel to carefully consider the strengths and weaknesses of particular fact situations. Such considerations should, among other things, encourage reasonable settlements.
 I am not aware of any particular financial considerations. The plaintiff has not made submissions on costs.
 Accordingly, the defendants have an order for all costs of the proceedings at Scale B, up to and including May 15, 2012. For all the steps they took in the proceeding after the October 9, 2012 examinations for discovery, they are entitled to double costs.
Adding to this site’s archived cases addressing visual vestibular mismatch following a vehicle collision, reasons for judgement were released today by the Supreme Court, assessing damages for such an injury.
Visual Vestibular Mismatch refers to a condition where the patient develops symptoms which are distressing and bothersome. Anyone who has been sitting at a traffic light on an incline and suddenly notices that they are falling back down the incline and rapidly slams their foot on the brake has experienced a situation where a car next to them is in fact moving slowly forward and they misinterpret this and think that they are going backwards. This is a visual vestibular mismatch situation. The individual has had an awareness of visual information misinterpreted into the feeling that they are moving. This is a physiological visual vestibular mismatch. The condition of visual vestibular mismatch which is abnormal or pathological is of similar distressing symptoms induced by a situation where normal people do not get symptoms. Where there is a lot of movement around the individual this causes confusion, distress and dizzy symptoms. The reason for this dizzy symptomatology is that the information from the balance system of the ear, as the patient is moving, does not synchronize or mesh with the information that the patient receives from their own vision resulting in awareness that there is a difference between the two and a sensation of dizziness is produced. Particular situations where this occurs are ones with a lot of movement. Characteristically rippling water and also the standard situation of a lot of movement in a supermarket or shopping mall produces awareness of dizziness. Complaints of dizziness caused by checkered floors, busy carpets or patterned tiles is seen. Dislike of elevators and escalators, which caused dizziness is common. Busy television programs, such as car chases and hockey games cause dizziness. Scrolling a computer causes dizziness. The bright light in these circumstances is frequently complained of. People around the patient are moving relatively indiscriminately and this results in a dizzy sensation.
 …I accept Dr. Longridge’s report and conclusion.
 A closer case – in fact one remarkably similar to the one at bar – is Moukhine v. Collins, 2012 BSCS 118. In that case, the 53-year-old plaintiff also suffered visual-vestibular mismatch. That impaired his ability to work as a computer programmer by 50%. His previous activity level was curtailed, as was the nature and extent of his outdoor activity level. Damages were assessed at $90,000. Based on that, I assess general damages at $90,000.
Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, assessing damages for a chronic pain condition stemming from collision related soft tissue injuries.
(i) in that regard, I accept Dr. Gouws’ and Dr. Paramonoff’s opinions which identified “catastrophization” and “confounding factors” as the main limitation to Mr. Karim’s recovery. This is the basis for their recommendation that he obtain psychological assistance….
 Based on my findings of fact, I am satisfied that Mr. Karim, who was 25 years old at the time of the accident, suffered moderate to moderately-severe soft tissue injuries at the time of the accident which resulted in physical and psychological consequences. The stress of these injuries also aggravated the significant stuttering condition which existed prior to the Accident. I also find that the consequences of the Accident were instrumental in the termination of his relationship with Ms. Azimi which resulted in an increase in his stress and greatly affected his quality of life for a period of time.
 I have also found that with an appropriate course of treatment both physical and psychological that Mr. Karim should largely return to his pre-Accident level of functioning. Thereafter, there will still, in my view, be some occasions in the future when the consequences of the Accident will affect the plaintiff both professionally and personally.
 I conclude that the authorities referred to by the defendants in particular Andrusko resemble more closely the plaintiff’s circumstances. But that award of $80,000, in my view, should be increased to reflect the contribution that the Accident had on the plaintiff’s relationship with Ms. Azimi. The award should also reflect that although I have concluded that the plaintiff does have the ability to overcome his negative perceptions of how the Accident has affected his life this will take some real effort on his part.
 I award the plaintiff $100,000 under this heading.

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