B.C. Supreme Court awards $4.2 million for future loss of income

The Supreme Court of British Columbia recently awarded a widow $6.4 million, $4.2 million of which was for the potential loss of support due to her husband’s death in a 2002 car accident.

In July, 2002 Barry Carter was driving a van owned by his employer, a cable company, when he went into hypoglycaemic shock and lost consciousness, veered into oncoming traffic and struck the vehicle that Dr. Donald Johnson, a laser eye surgeon, was a passenger in.

Johnson died as a result of the collision.

Justice Harry Slade awarded Johnson’s widow $4.2 million for future losses, including pre-retirement family consumption and savings.

While the court heard that Johnson experienced financial issues prior to his death, Justice Slade was convinced that he would not only have bounced back, but likely expanded his business as a successful laser eye surgeon.

“An increase in Dr. Johnson’s time expended in surgery that would yield a substantial increase in income was a strong possibility, more at the level of probability,” Justice Slade wrote in his decision.

“There was also a realistic potential for earning business income based on an ownership interest.”

While Johnson did not have any shares in the company that owned and operated the clinic in which he worked at the time of his death, Justice Slade decided that was likely due to potential difficulty with his creditors, but that would have likely changed.

“There is no evidence of any established plan to develop and take an ownership interest in any clinics,” he wrote.

“There is, however, evidence that would support a finding of a realistic possibility that Dr. Johnson would, at some future time, have sought to capitalize on his reputation and experience by methods other than the personal provision of surgical services.”