Goldie v. McLean/Kehler et al – Welder Was a Victim of Two Accidents
Matt Goldie was referred to James by a former client. Initially he was involved in a serious rear-end collision accident which caused him significant disability in his low back. At the time of this first accident, Matt was working in construction and took almost two months off of work before returning to this heavy manual labour job. Upon returning to work, he discovered that he had excruciating pain in his low back, which greatly affected his ability to continue with the construction work. He managed to continue with his work but was limited in his physical abilities as he had to be very careful with his low back. James represented Matt and had set the matter down for a trial when unfortunately Matthew was involved in a second accident, which this time was a head-on collision. At this stage, Matthew was training as a welder, and this second accident severely set Matt back in terms of his ability to work and to continue with his training. The cumulative effect of both accidents caused him to be less able to be productive and efficient as a welder. While the accidents did not prevent him from working as a welder, they had the potential of limiting the length of his career and limiting the available employment opportunities that might have existed absent the accidents. ICBC did not provide what James considered a reasonable offer and so this matter went to a two-week trial in March of 2019. Ryan Irving (Partner) was co-counsel with James in conducting the trial. ICBC took the position that Matthew’s low back pain was not connected to his first accident because there was a delay in his discovering his back pain after the first accident. The trial judge found that this was in fact an injury caused by the first accident based in part by the expert testimony of a spine specialist retained by James who assessed Matt. At the end of the day the judge awarded over $400,000.00 to Matt for his losses arising from these two accidents.
