BC Supreme Court awards $2.5 million in damages to injured passenger

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has awarded over $2.5 million in damages to a woman injured in a motor vehicle accident. The trial focused on quantifying damages, with a contentious issue being the loss of future earning capacity.

The accident occurred in Vancouver in October 2018 when the plaintiff was a passenger in a rental vehicle, whose driver admitted liability. The rest of the defendants consisted of the driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident and the companies that owned the rental vehicle.

At the time of the accident, the plaintiff was in her third year of a Bachelor of Commerce program, with plans to major in finance and to eventually become a financial analyst or investment banker. Allegedly, she would have had an average income of $500,000 per year until retirement.

The accident caused soft tissue injuries to the plaintiff’s neck, arms, and back and led to chronic pain, dizziness, sleep disturbances, and anxiety. The expert evidence supported that she developed fibromyalgia and major depressive disorder.

The plaintiff’s physical and psychological symptoms persisted despite treatment. Her career aspirations shifted from finance to marketing. She eventually became a marketing manager with an annual salary of $92,000.

At trial, the plaintiff requested about $8 million for loss of future earning capacity. The defendants, in turn, alleged that $172,000 was an appropriate amount.

Over $2.5 million awarded

In Dhaliwal v Wu, 2024 BCSC 1380, the British Columbia Supreme Court awarded the plaintiff total damages of $2,506,875.90. The largest portion of the award was $2,018,000 for loss of future earning capacity.

In arriving at this amount, the court held that the plaintiff’s injuries significantly reduced her ability to pursue a position in finance but considered that she might not have achieved the high-income career that she envisioned even if the accident had not occurred.

The court set the cost of future care at $242,185.90 to cover expenses such as psychological counselling, Botox injections for pain relief, and massage therapy. The court rejected the plaintiff’s claim for personal training expenses on the basis that she would have incurred these fees even without the accident.

The court awarded $225,000 in non-pecuniary damages for the psychological and physical injuries that impaired the plaintiff’s life. The court accepted that her injuries affected her vocational expectations, family, social life, and self-image.

Next, the court found the plaintiff entitled to $18,190 in special damages. This amount also excluded personal training costs, which the court did not find compensable.

Finally, the court awarded $3,500 for loss of past earning capacity. The court found insufficient evidence to support the plaintiff’s claim that the accident delayed her graduation and early career earnings. However, the court accepted that she might have continued working part-time at a gym until the pandemic.