Coquitlam Personal Injury Lawyer: Window washer, struck by car, wins half-a-million dollars.

This is another case that ought to have settled; unfortunately, it was pushed to trial. This is consistent with the current position of insurance companies regarding personal injury victims.

Insurance companies are admitting fault yet are pushing claims to trial to further victimize the injured.

In Geddert v Stokes, 2021 BCSC 656, the injured claimant was on a ladder washing windows, when his ladder was struck by the defendant’s vehicle. The defendant admitted negligently striking the injured claimant’s ladder. Let me repeat that:

The Defendant admitted negligently striking the plaintiff’s ladder therefore causing the plaintiff to fall and injure himself and the insurer still pushed this claim to trial.

As Chief Justice Hinkson writes on para. 70: As indicated above, the defendant concedes, and I agree, that he was negligent in backing his van blindly out of the garage, and up the driveway, causing the accident that injured the plaintiff.

At the time of his fall, the injured claimant was working above the eastern garage door. The defendant was exiting the garage by reversing onto the driveway when his van contacted the ladder. The plaintiff’s fall was caused by the contact between the defendant’s van and the ladder that the plaintiff was on. As a result, he suffered serious injuries including, but not limited to, a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) with a right subdural hematoma; subarachnoid hemorrhage throughout both frontal lobes; a hemorrhagic contusion in the right frontal lobe; shear hemorrhages within the temporal lobes; a skull fracture in the left occipital bone (at the back of the skull); a left lower lobe pulmonary contusion; multiple left sided rib fractures; and a "flail chest"; and fractures to the spine.

In short, he was hurt and hurt bad.

The insurer, despite admitting some fault, pushed this case to trial arguing that the plaintiff or strata were contributorily responsible/liable. BC Supreme Court Chief Justice Hinkson dismissed this notion and awarded the plaintiff approximately $650,000 for his claim.