Admissibility of "Incompetent" Litigant Hearsay Canvassed in BC Injury Claim
Adding to this site’s archived caselaw addressing points of civil procedure, reasons for judgement were released this week by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, addressing the admissibility of various out of Court statements made by a Plaintiff involved in injury litigation.
In this week’s case (Saadati v. Moorehead) the Plaintiff was injured in a 2005 collision and sued for damages. He was also involved in subsequent and previous collisions not before the Court. Prior to trial the Plaintiff was declared “mentally incompetent” and could not testify. In the course of the trial both the Plaintiff and the Defendant sought to introduce various pre-trial statements into evidence as exceptions to the hearsay rule. The decision is worth reviewing in full for the Court’s analysis. The statements considered included
1. an excited utterance at the scene of the collision
2. statements to his GP, kinesiologist and treating specialist
3. statements to friends and family
4. statements to an ICBC adjuster
5. paycheque stubs, pay statements, pay sheets and tax returns
6. Admissions against interest