Accident victim gets half the settlement she asked courts for

A woman who asked for more than a $1 million as compensation for injuries suffered in a traffic accident will get slightly less than half of that.

Sandra Martin (then Ogden) was sitting in the passenger’s seat of a vehicle driven by her future husband, which was hit on that side by an SUV on Highway 97 near Daimler Road in 2017.

“The collision was a violent one. The airbags deployed in both vehicles and there was substantial damage to each. Their truck ended up on the side of the road. The emergency personnel had to remove the passenger door in order to extract her from the vehicle. She was taken to the hospital in a stretcher,” wrote BC Supreme Court Justice Warren Milman in his ruling, issued on Feb. 5.

The driver and owner of the SUV admitted liability.

Martin, now 37, has continued to have headaches, dizziness, nausea, sleep and vision problems and has become sensitive to certain sounds, the court was told.

She has tried physiotherapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, triggerpoint injections and other health remedies.

After the accident, her doctor diagnosed a concussion, right thigh/pelvis contusion, lumbosacral sprain/strain, cervicothoracic sprain/strain, and post-traumatic headache.

She also saw specialists.

Her lawyers told the court prospects for further improvement in her condition were minimal. The defence disputed that and the judge noted experts “have recommended treatments that Ms. Martin has yet to try in earnest or at all.”

Later, however, the judge also noted: “this is not a case where the plaintiff has been shown to have decided to eschew a recommended treatment so as to justify a reduction in her damages on this ground.”

Martin told the court she can’t enjoy recreational activities like she used to, and the injuries have affected her ability to make a living.

Martin and the defence proposed vastly different amounts on her earnings losses.

Martin’s lawyers said she should be awarded $851,000 for earnings losses. The defence said the amount should be $70,000. The judge settled on $67,000 for past losses and $167,000 for future losses.

“At the time of the accident, Ms. Martin had just embarked on her own bookkeeping business. She was working about 15-20 hours per week (or 760 hours annually), billing her time at $50 per hour. She was hoping to … increase her hours to a fulltime schedule of 40 hours per week,” the judge wrote.

Instead, the court heard, she works 18-20 hours per week, though she has increased her billing rate to $60 per hour.

The judge also awarded her $67,600 for future health-care costs and $130,000 for non-pecuniary, or general, damages.