Background: The Court of Appeal for British Columbia issued its judgment in the case Lee v. Bolduc, cited as 2024 BCCA 224, on January 10, 2024. A supplementary judgment followed on June 18, 2024.

Legal Arguments/Issues: The primary legal issue in this appeal concerned the awards for loss of future earning capacity related to Kayla Nikole Bolduc’s lost medical career and reduced nursing career capacity. The appellants, Esther Lee, Delaina Mariele Olson, and Stacey Marie Stratton, argued that the award for loss of future earning capacity should be set aside or dismissed entirely. Alternatively, they sought a reduction or reassessment of the award based on the trial evidence. They contended there was no evidence to support the trial judge’s finding of a 75% chance of Bolduc’s admission to medical school, suggesting instead a more realistic likelihood of 20%.

Held: The court decided to reduce the award for loss of future earning capacity from $524,698 to $450,000, reflecting a reduction of approximately $75,000. The appellants succeeded partially by achieving this reduction but did not succeed in dismissing the award entirely.

Costs: The court ordered that each party bear their own costs of the appeal, concluding that the success in the case was divided.