Father’s policies should cover injured Bronco, lawsuit says
Straschnitzkis’ statement of claim is seeking $8.8M from insurers for disability, expenses
The automobile insurers for an Airdrie father should be on the hook for injuries suffered by his son in the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash, a Calgary lawsuit claims.
In a statement of claim filed this week, Tom Straschnitzki and his son Ryan seek $8.8 million in benefits from two insurance companies over the devastating wounds Ryan suffered in the April 2018 crash.
The lawsuit claims Coseco Insurance Co. and Co-operators General Insurance Co. had a policy with the father that would cover his son, who was paralyzed from the chest down in the collision that killed 16 people.
“The said policy ... agreed to indemnify Thomas Straschnitzki and his family for such amount or amounts that they would be entitled to recover as a result of total disability and health care expenses sustained by the plaintiff as a passenger in an accident arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle,” the lawsuit states.
“Ryan ... was an insured person as defined by the policy.”
The son was one of 13 people injured when a tractor-trailer ran a stop sign at the intersection of highways 35 and 335 near Armley, Sask., and collided with a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.
The trucker who caused the crash, Calgarian Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to 16 charges of dangerous driving causing death and 13 of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Ryan Straschnitzki’s lawyer filed a separate lawsuit in March seeking more than $13 million in damages.
That claim named Sidhu, Calgary-based Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd. and the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan among others as defendants.
It also claimed damages against the estate of bus driver Glen Doerksen, who was killed in the crash, alleging he was speeding northbound on Highway 35 when Sidhu failed to stop while heading westbound on Highway 335.
The latest lawsuit claims the plaintiffs are entitled to coverage for income benefits of $1.5 million, rehabilitation benefits of $3 million, medical, travel and personal expenses of $3 million, living assistance of $1 million and a permanent impairment benefit of $300,000.
A statement of defence by the insurance companies disputing the unproven allegations has not been filed.
Multiple other lawsuits have been filed in connection with the crash, including a class-action suit in Regina, which included both provinces and the federal government as defendants.
“The people wanting to go forward aren’t motivated financially so much as these were wrongs by governments,” lawyer Tony Merchant, who filed the class-action lawsuit in early April, told The Canadian Press, pointing to the trucking industry as a major concern.