Stephen Gibson and Scott Stanley acted for the plaintiff who had his ICBC claim dismissed as a result of the negligence of another lawyer at another firm. They were successful at trial, and the plaintiff was awarded damages of $175,000 against his former lawyer. Before coming to Stephen and Scott, the plaintiff had consulted with 46 lawyers who all refused to take the case. This is an example of the lawyers at Murphy Battista LLP taking the necessary steps, that other lawyers cannot do or will not take, when it is in best interests of an injured person.

Keri Grenier acted for a worker who suffered multiple injuries while working in the laundry department of the Kelowna General Hospital when he was lifted off the ground and crushed by a laundry machine. Despite his significant injuries, the worker was denied part of his WorkSafeBC claim on the basis that his injuries were initially found be unrelated to the accident. Keri requested a review of the decision denying his neck injury, among other things.  The Review Division denied the review. Keri successfully appealed on behalf of her client to the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) which confirmed that the worker’s neck injury arose out of the accident. WCAT also suggested that the Board should consider a permanent, partial disability pension assessment with medical treatment.

John M. Cameron and Paul Bosco acted for Mr. Niessen, who was the sole proprietor of a plumbing-and-heating company. Mr. Niessen sustained significant injuries (head, neck, and lower back) when his vehicle was struck by a vehicle that crossed the centre line of a highway and these injuries affected all areas of his life. The main issue at trial was the degree to which Mr. Niessen’s ability to earn income had suffered as a result of his injuries. ICBC took the position that there was a lack of documented evidence to support this loss. However, the court accepted Mr. Cameron and Mr. Bosco’s arguments that Mr. Niessen’s history of skill and ability in his industry, his business records, and the witness called on his behalf including former co-workers and customers, all were sufficient to prove that a significant loss had occurred. In the end, the Court awarded over $840,000 for this loss of earning potential. Overall, the court awarded Mr. Niessen just over $1.2 million, which was almost triple the amount the insurance company had argued Mr. Niessen deserved.

Joe Murphy, Q.C. and Brandon Souza acted for the executors and estate of the deceased, Maxine Wilton, who altered her Will by completing two codicils. The defendants, the deceased’s grandchildren, were no longer beneficiaries in the Will after the second codicil was made. The grandchildren challenged that codicil claiming suspicious circumstances surrounding the making of the codicil, that the grandmother lacked the testamentary capacity, and that she was subject to undue influence. The grandmother suffered strokes both before and after the codicil which left the grandchildren out of her will. After a five day trial, the court found the codicil valid and that the grandmother knew exactly what she was doing.

Stephen Gibson, Scott Stanley, and Brandon Souza acted for the plaintiff who suffered a traumatic brain injury and a spinal cord injury that rendered her an incomplete quadriplegic. The plaintiff, an engineer, was driving across train tracks at a passive crossing when a train collided with the right side of her vehicle. The court found that Canadian National Railway Company was aware of insufficient sight lines and the dangerous nature of the specific railway crossing for many years prior to the accident and took no actions to ameliorate those risks. Despite the Plaintiff’s failure to stop at a stop sign at the railway crossing, Canadian National Railway Company was still found 60% at fault for the accident. The court awarded approximately $3,200,000 in damages.

Jeff Nieuwenburg acted for the plaintiff on an appeal regarding a finding of contributory negligence on her part and failure to mitigate her damages. The appeal was successful in part with the court finding there was no evidence that the plaintiff failed to follow a treatment, that would have decreased her damages and the failure to mitigate finding was set aside. In the result, this meant that the plaintiff was entitled to recoup the 75% reduction that had been applied to her damages award for failure to mitigate.

Veroncia Medved and Tara Chandler acted for a Plaintiff who was only 23 years old at the time of the collision. After T-boning the Defendant (who was found 100% responsible for the collision), the Plaintiff developed a traumatic lesion on her spine and chronic pain condition which disabled her from gainful employment. The Court awarded damages in the amount of $1,885,000, including $185,000 for pain and suffering and $1,297,146 in future income loss. Although her working history was short, the Court accepted that as a single mom, the Plaintiff was very attached to the workforce and would have worked on a full-time basis to the age of 70 without voluntary withdrawal.

In QP v. Bolton, Alex Sayn-Wittgenstein and Paul Bosco acted for an RCMP officer who was significantly injured in the course of his duties. The court accepted their arguments that his life was significantly impacted as a result of his injuries, he missed out on earning overtime income, his opportunity for advancement in his career may be limited, and that his wife was entitled to compensation for the care she provided by way of an in trust claim. The court also accepted their argument that he and his employer should be compensated for the time he missed from work, despite having been paid by his employer for this time, finding that it would be unfair to let the wrongdoer benefit from the generosity of the employer.

Scott Stanley and Paul Bosco represented a young woman who was the victim of horrible burns following an explosion at a backyard fire pit. The tenant poured a bucket of used motor oil on the fire, causing it to explode. The landlord, who happened to be the City of Burnaby, had been warned the tenant had fires in the past, which was contrary to their own bylaw prohibiting open fires, but did nothing about this. In the course of a month-long jury trial, the court accepted the arguments of Mr. Stanley and Mr. Bosco that (1) a duty of care was owed by the landlord to the victim, a visitor to the premises, (2) it was impossible for the victim to be found at all at fault for the incident and her injuries, and (3) only basic factual questions should be put to the jury for consideration. The jury ultimately awarded the victim a total of $4.56 million.

Angela Bespflug was counsel on this class action and settlement that provided compensation to Indigenous class members for the loss of culture they suffered as a consequence of the Sixties Scoop.

Bill Dick and Keri Grenier acted for a plaintiff whose injuries had rendered her an incomplete quadriplegic. The Court agreed that she required full time care that was being provided up to the date of trial by her spouse. The Court awarded total damages exceeding $3.4 million.

Jeffrey Nieuwenburg acted for the plaintiff on an application by the plaintiff for production of documents from the defendant which include liability documents, privileged documents from its list of documents, and an affidavit of documents. The plaintiff also sought costs. There was a 15-day jury trial in this matter scheduled for February 2018.