Bio:

Called to the British Columbia Bar in 1976, Lyle is an experienced trial and appeal counsel who has prosecuted and defended all types of civil cases, both jury trials and judge-alone trials including: personal injury (plaintiff and defendant); insurance and insurance fraud, occupiers’ liability, and slip and fall. Lyle has also appeared as counsel in numerous cases in the B. C. Court of Appeal and he enjoys the challenge of “last-minute” or “short fuse” trial assignments.

Memberships & Professional Affiliations:

• Canadian Bar Association
• Trial Lawyers’ Association of British Columbia

Lectures / Publications / Seminars:

Lyle is the author of Discovery Practice in British Columbia (Vancouver, CLEBC) first published in 1999, 2^nd edition, 2004, and updated annually. This manual is the established practice manual for lawyers in British Columbia and has just been updated to take into account the re-drafting of the Supreme Court Civil Rules.

January 20, 2010, Lyle  Co-chaired Discovery 2010: Master the facts and take charge at trial! This comprehensive one-day CLEBC course focused on the core elements of discovery practice, from initial preparation, through planning, to the conduct of discovery. Featuring a series of video vignettes to demonstrate the best and worst practices found in the conduct of discovery, this practice focused program combined substantive law with practical tips and pointers from a veteran faculty.

Lyle has been a chair-person and panelist on over twenty courses sponsored by Continuing Education Society of British Columbia, Trial Lawyers’ Association of British Columbia, Canadian Defence Lawyers and other legal organizations, on topics including discovery practice, strategies and tactics in jury trials and the new Civil Rules. Lyle enjoys writing articles on topics of interest in his field of study and practice, including “Decline of Professional Courtesy: ‘Us’ v. ‘Them’” (The Verdict, March 2009).

For a full list of Lyle’s CLE contributions click HERE.

Recognitions / Awards:

Lyle was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel on December 11, 2009.

Reported (and Unreported) Cases*:

Click on the underlined case names for the full text of some of Lyle’s notable and recent cases.

• Duncan v. Braaten and Fernridge Arms [1980] BCJ 1715 SC – Dismissal of action against pub on issue of occupiers’ liability;
• Katrichak v. National Life [1992] ILR 1-2883 – Judgment against insurance company in contested life insurance case.
• Cox v. Fleming 15 BCLR (3d) 201 (CA) – Compensation for nervous shock and death of child.
• Williams v Damsel [1994] BCJ No 1375 SC – Successful defence of quantum of damages with credibility issues.
• Joy v Atkinson 2009 BCCA 230 – Appeal judgment involving mistrial declaration based on counsel address to jury).
• Bjornson v Shaw 2009 BCSC 758 – $565,000 damage award for accident victim.

In addition, Lyle was compensation counsel for Thomas Sophonow in the Manitoba Commission of Inquiry before Peter de C. Cory (retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada) into Mr. Sophonow’s wrongful conviction for murder in the Province of Manitoba in 1982 (“The Sophonow Inquiry”). The findings of the inquiry resulted in a recommendation for compensation for Mr. Sophonow in the amount of $2.66 million dollars.

Click HERE for the full text of The Sophonow Inquiry.

*References to successful case results where the lawyers at Harris & Brun have acted for clients are not a guarantee of future results. The outcome of every legal proceeding will vary according to the facts in each individual case.

Community Involvement:

• Chair, Canadian Bar Association (National), Working Group on No-Fault Compensation
• Food bank coordinator for local church
• Seventeen years soccer coach and current holder of National Coaching Academy Level 3 (Technical) certification

Education:

B.A. (English Honours), University of British Columbia, 1972

Law School:

L.L.B. University of British Columbia, 1975