Woman brain injured in crash as a baby gets almost $1.2 million in damages

VANCOUVER — A woman has been awarded almost $1.2 million by the B.C. Supreme Court after her skull was fractured 17 years ago in a pedestrian crash when she was a baby.

A trial heard the unnamed woman was 16 months old and being carried by her mother across a street when they were both hit.

The plaintiff, who court heard is in the process of gender reassignment to live as a female, says she suffered a complicated mild traumatic brain injury that has had a lasting and disabling impact on her life. Experts told the trial the accident caused a traumatic brain injury, reducing brain development, which set off cognitive and psychological difficulties. Justice Barbara Young said the woman’s brain injury has worsened those conditions.

She awarded $770,000 for loss of earning capacity, over $200,000 for future care costs, plus damages for a total of $1,159,500.