LAFOND vs. MANDAIR
Larry Lafond retained James Cotter after he was injured in a motor vehicle accident which left him with chronic neck pain and low back pain.  Despite these injuries he did not miss a lot of his work, due to the fact that he had a very accommodating employer.  His employer allowed him to do tasks which were much easier on his body, and to use his sick bank to make up lost wages.  These injuries, however, greatly impacted Mr. Lafond’s life such that his recreational activities were greatly limited, and his ability to enjoy life outside of work was greatly diminished.  Mr. Lafond was in his early 50’s, and was very worried as to how these injuries would impact him in the future.  He was concerned that he was not going to be able to continue with his job either because he could not continue due to his chronic pain, or his employer would sell the business and he would have to deal with a less accommodating new employer.

Unfortunately, ICBC did not believe that his injuries were as significant as both Mr. Lafond and his doctors said.  ICBC retained a specialist doctor whom they use quite often, who gave an opinion that Mr. Lafond had pre-existing back pain even though there was no evidence of any back complaints in the 5 years prior to the accident.  Unfortunately, ICBC would not offer enough money to reasonably settle this matter, as in our assessment the offers from ICBC were far below what Mr. Lafond would get at Trial. 

James Cotter and Leah Volkers took this claim to Trial, it lasted 6 days.  The Trial Judge fully believed Mr. Lafond and the impact of the injuries on his life.  The Trial Judge completely dismissed the ICBC specialist’s opinion.  The Judge awarded Mr. Lafond nearly $350,000 plus reimbursement of his litigation expenses.  This amount was far in excess of what ICBC was offering to try and resolve the matter.  At the end of the day, the Trial Judge made an award which was fair and reasonable in the circumstances, and it fulfilled the purpose of our legal system, which is to put the accident victim back in a position he would have been, had the accident not occurred.

Click here to read the full Court Decision.

GLOVER v. LEAKEY

Senior Litigation partner Michael Yawney and associate Ryan Irving recently obtained an interesting decision in a case called Glover v. Leakey.  In that case, the Defendant was involved in a crash and injured two passengers.  One sued and fault was specifically admitted; only quantum was then in issue and that issue was settlement.  The second passenger was our client, Ms. Glover, she also sued,  but fault for the accident was specifically denied. Both claims were defended by ICBC.
In the midst of a two week jury trial Mr. Yawney and Mr. Irving  discovered the inconsistent pleadings and brought an application claiming that this was unfair and amounted to an abuse of process, asking for a directed judgment on liability.  The application was heard and the decision on abuse of process deferred, by agreement with counsel and the judge. This apparently was misunderstood by defence counsel. Due to the apparent misunderstanding the matter proceeded to verdict on liability and the jury found the Defendant was not negligent.  Before the order was entered the Court considered the matter and found that the liability denial was an abuse of process,  set aside the jury verdict and granted judgment on liability in favour of the plaintiff.  In reaching this result Madam Justice Gropper provided the following reasons:

• [67] In considering my analysis of this application, I must note that the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), the Province’s public mandatory motor vehicle insurer had conduct of both the Glover and the Yeomans actions. The evidence provided is sparse, but it is clear that the adjuster in the Yeomans Action determined that liability would be admitted on behalf of Mr. Leakey whereas the adjuster in the Glover action determined that liability would be denied. I expressly find that ICBC knew of the inconsistent pleadings and that the insured, Kenneth Leakey knew or ought to have known of the inconsistent positions.

• [68] Courts retain jurisdiction to dismiss actions that are an abuse of process where the principles such as judicial economy, consistency, finality and the integrity of the administration of justice will be violated. This doctrine is flexible and the categories of abuse of process are open. In my view, the defendant’s inconsistent positions on liability offend all these principles which are fundamental to our system of law.

• [69] Before this action was filed the defendant admitted liability for the subject accident in the Yeomans Action. He obtained the benefit of settlement with that defendant. It cannot be open to him to re-litigate something that he already conceded in the Yeomans Action. That offends the principle of judicial economy, unnecessarily expending the resources of the justice system and in this particular instance it is more egregious as the case called upon the wisdom of the community in the form of jurors. It is also contrary to the principle of finality to permit something that has been admitted to be re-litigated.

• [70] Consistency is also compromised. A position that Mr. Leakey is on one hand negligent but on the other not negligent cannot be anything but irreconcilable and inconsistent. The only distinction in the pleadings is that in the Yeomans Action the defendant asserted that Ms. Yeomans failed to properly adjust and securely fasten her seatbelt. That does not alter the bare fact of the defendant’s negligence.

• [93] The defendant claims that to find these pleadings as inconsistent and an abuse of process will discourage admissions, contrary to public policy. I find that there is much larger public policy at stake. It is an abuse of process to allow a defendant to admit liability in respect of one passenger and deny liability in respect of the other where there are no facts to distinguish the two. Requiring a party, even ICBC, to file consistent pleadings is not onerous and, with respect, is a principled way to proceed. The pleading of inconsistent positions in this case cannot be condoned.

• [94]        I have declared a mistrial in this case. It may appear that my decision on the abuse of process application is moot. It is not for three reasons:

1. A declaration of mistrial means that the matter will proceed to a new trial.
2. I grant judgment on the liability issue in favour of the plaintiff.
3. The plaintiff seeks special costs related to the abuse of process and has asked for leave to provide further submissions in that regard.

• [95]  Both parties may seek to appear to address the issue of special costs based on my finding of an abuse of process.

This decision is an important one in terms of ensuring more fairness to injured Plaintiffs bringing claims. It is also important in terms of the cost of this type of litigation; putting more onus on insurance companies like ICBC to fairly adjust and settle claims, rather than playing fast and loose with the truth.  Extra court days, preparation and costs had to be devoted to dealing with the issue of liability when the Corporation had already accepted that it’s insured defendant was responsible for causing the subject accident. In a time where insurer’s like ICBC pay for ads that like to promote blame against claimants for rising claims costs, this case demonstrates that it is in fact ICBC that conducts itself in a way that adds unnecessary costs. 

The Nixon Wenger legal team will be applying for special costs against the defendant and his insurer as ordered by Madam Justice Gropper; that decision will be an interesting one as well.

An elderly woman was injured while travelling on Highway 97 south of Vernon. She suffered serious injuries that rendered her incapable of caring for herself as she had up to that point.  Her family were referred to Michael Yawney QC and they retained him to pursue a claim to cover the extensive care and other costs caused by her accident injuries. Mr Yawney was able to resolve her claim relatively quickly, settling it for over $450,000.00.

A father and daughter from Lake Country retained Michael Yawney QC to assist them with injury claims for soft tissue injuries suffered when a teenage driver lost control of her vehicle and hit them hard from behind as they were stopped on a busy street. The injuries impacted the daughter’s post secondary school attendance and left her with some residual discomfort. The father missed out on construction projects for his business due to having to deal with injuries from the accident. Mr Yawney was able to resolve their claims prior to trial for $150,000.00 and $125,000.00 respectively, plus costs and disbursements.