Diminished Earning Capacity Damages Awarded Despite Plaintiff Increasing Earnings Each Year Since Collision
Just because a Plaintiff suffers no past loss of income does not preclude a court from awarding damages for diminished future earning capacity. Reasons for judgement were published this week by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, demonstrating this.
In today’s case (Grant v. Ditmarsia Holdings Ltd) the Plaintiff was injured in a 2015 collisions that the Defendants admitted fault for.
The crash caused chronic physical and psychological injuries. The Plaintiff was “a hardworking journeyman plumber” and despite his injuries, which had a poor prognosis for full recovery, continued to work and increased his earnings in the years following the crash. Despite this he expressed concern that in the long term his stoicicism could not continue indefinitely and the injuries would eventually negatively impact his earnings. The Court agreed. In assessing damages at $325,000 for future diminished earning capacity Madam Justice Wilkinson provided the following reasons: