Diminished Housekeeping Capacity Claim Assessed for “Fastidious Housekeeper”
Reasons for judgement were published today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, assessing damages for diminished housekeeping capacity for a plaintiff with ‘fastidious’ housekeeping standards.
In today’s case (Broomfield v. Lof) the Plaintiff was injured in a 2014 rear end collision. Liability was admitted. The crash resulted in a variety of injuries the most serious of which were chronic depression and somatic symptom disorder. These resulted in a period of total disability followed by the Plaintiff being able to return to work but on a reduced basis.
The Plaintiff had restrictions in her housekeeping abilities and these were medically supported. The Defendant opposed damages for diminished housekeeping capacity in part because the plaintiff admitted that “she was able to do what she wanted if she pushed through the pain“. Despite this admission the court found the evidence justified damages for diminished housekeeping capacity and awarded just over $100,000 for past and future losses. In reaching this assessment Madam Justice Young provided the following reasons: