$50,000 Pain and Suffering for Moderate Soft Tissue Injury and Fractured Sternum
Reasons for judgement were released today awarding a Plaintiff just over $100,000 in compensation for injuries sustained in a 2005 Vernon car accident including $50,000 for non-pecuniary damages (pain and suffering).
The accident occurred when the Defendant pulled out of an alleyway and struck the Plaintiff’s vehicle. The crash was significant causing the Plaintiff’s 1999 Honda Civic extensive damage.
Mr. Justice Barrow summarized the Plaintiff’s injuries as follows:
I am satisfied that the plaintiff sustained a moderate soft tissue injury to her back in the motor vehicle accident. Both Dr. Coghlan and Dr. Smart diagnosed her injury as such. Further, she sustained a fracture to her sternum. That fracture likely disrupted the soft tissues in the area of her sternum as her body compensated for the boney injury. Those injuries resulted in her being entirely unable to perform the physical labours associated with the operation of the family farm for approximately six months and continued to substantially impair that ability until the farm was sold in the summer of 2006. I am satisfied that they continue to limit her function today in the sense that she is unable to lift her grandchildren and she experiences difficulty in doing other activities that she formerly enjoyed, including keeping her house, tending to her garden and sleeping. As to the future, these limitations will likely continue although they will be moderate. I am also satisfied that she would benefit from a program of physical strengthening. While I understand her reluctance to attend a gym, that would be of benefit to her. It is not the defendant’s responsibility if she chooses not to follow her physician’s advice in that regard.
In finding that $50,000 was fair for Pain and Suffering Justice Barrow noted that “(the Plaintiff) was unable to return to farming, an occupation which was a source of enjoyment and fulfillment to her. She has suffered a loss of independence in that she is unable to keep her house to the standard that she formerly had and is forced to rely on her children to do that for her”