Nobody likes to go to court. However, if you have to take your case to court, the following results show that Harris & Brun Law Corporation has one of the finest lineups of courtroom lawyers in the province, perhaps even in the whole country. The following successes of Harris & Brun trial lawyers are documented in chronological order. As you will see from these results, our trial lawyers are equally adept at succeeding for defendants and plaintiffs.
In Sherrell v. ICBC, 2019 BCSC 103, a case which was defended by Lyle Harris, the plaintiff sued ICBC for a declaration that she should be covered by insurance for an accident caused by an intoxicated person who was in possession of her vehicle. The insurer took the position that she had breached her policy of insurance by knowingly giving control of her vehicle to an intoxicated driver. Her defence was that she was not in breach because she was so intoxicated, she could not have given the vehicle to anyone. The case was heard on January 9 and 10, and in reasons for judgment dated January 29, the court found the insured in breach and ordered her to pay back to ICBC the money they had paid out in the claim.
In Firman v. Asadi, 2019 BCSC 270, Peter Collins and Rebecca Buchanan acted for the defendants in a claim for significant personal injuries including a torn hip labrum, thoracic outlet syndrome, chronic pain and depression. Her position at trial was that she was entitled to damages of $1,304,000. The hearing took 12 days to complete. In reasons for judgment delivered March 1, 2019, the court awarded judgment of $679,000.
In Heffernan v. Charlish, 2019 BCSC 825, Michael Wilhelmson acted for Mr. Charlish in an action for damages arising out of a motor vehicle collision at Clarke and Como Lake Road. Each driver stated that the other driver entered the intersection on the red light. The court found that Michael’s client, Mr. Charlish, had the right of way, and found the other driver 75% responsible for the accident.
In Chand v. Avante Laser and Aesthetics Ltd., (Provincial Court, Robson Square Registry File No. 1656523) a case in which Graham Hardy acted for the plaintiff, the court awarded general damages of $10,000 special damages (out of pocket expenses) of $9,550 for the negligent laser treatment of a client’s lip, causing permanent scarring and discomfort.
In Saidy v. Louzado, 2019 BCSC 281, Robert Brun, Jennifer Brun, and Graham Hardy acted for the defendants in five motor vehicle actions. On March 5, 2019, after 12 days of trial, Mr. Justice Giaschi awarded the plaintiff total damages of 65% of $70,774.87 for the five motor vehicle accidents at issue, less the non-costs portion of the plaintiff’s earlier 2006 settlement (relating to two earlier motor vehicle accidents with resulting indivisible injuries). This resulted in a null judgment for the plaintiff, who owed costs to the defendants.
Dhillon v. Labelle, (Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry File No. M167246), involved a 14-day jury trial in which Jennifer Brun and Monique Radlein acted for the defence. Liability was admitted. At the end of the case, on May 16, 2019, the jury returned a verdict of total damages in the amount of $7,515.02 for the plaintiff. The plaintiff has appealed the verdict of the jury to the Court of Appeal of British Columbia.
In Mladjo v. Etheridge, 2019 BCSC 950, a five-day trial in May, in which Lyle Harris acted for the plaintiff. The plaintiff claimed damages for past income loss and future income loss. The position of the defendant was that the plaintiff should receive nothing for either head of damages. On June 13, 2019, the court awarded total damages of $279,000, which included $54,000 for past income loss and $75,000 for future income loss.
Karst v. Foster, 2019 BCSC 1043, was a case in which Lyle Harris was retained three weeks before trial to act as lead counsel for the injured victim. After five days of hearing in March 2019, in reasons for judgement June 27, 2019, Lyle and his associate counsel succeeded in an award of damages of $407,000. The award included $220,000 for future loss of income. The defence had argued for a much lesser amount.
The success of our courtroom lawyers does not stop here. In Cook v. Kang, 2019 BCSC 12, Erin Haupt brought an application on behalf of the defendant to have the plaintiff medically examined by independent doctors. The opposing counsel attempted to impose 14 conditions for the examination, including conditions such as limits on the type of questions the examining physician can ask and limitations on the time that the examination may take. Erin was successful in her application, and no conditions were imposed that would prevent the examining physician from doing a proper examination.
As stated above, no client likes to go to court. We recognize this and take every opportunity to settle the claims of our civil litigation clients outside of court. However, as you can see from the above results, if your case has to go to court, we have the lawyers who have the skill to deliver an appropriate result. A track record of success in court, like the one referenced above, will often make the opponent think seriously about whether they want to take their matter to court.
If you have a claim or are defending a claim, you may wish to hire us before the other side does!