ICBC driving examiner awarded $2.2 million for injuries suffered in collision

An ICBC driving examiner who was injured in a collision while administering a road test has been awarded more than $2.2 million in damages.

At the time of the accident, Heather Diane Boal was seated beside the driver getting the test as they headed westbound on Parker Street in Burnaby.

The driver overturned left onto Madison Avenue and drove towards a vehicle that was stopped at a stop sign on Madison, heading north.

Boal yelled for the driver to stop, pressed as hard as she could on a passenger side break pedal in the vehicle owned by a driving school, turned in her seat and reached across and grabbed the steering wheel with her right hand.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right and was able to alter the vehicle’s course away from the driver’s door of the other vehicle, but the vehicle collided with the back wheel well of the other vehicle.

The accident caused injuries to her neck, right shoulder and chest wall that resulted in pain and tightness in those areas, nerve pain shooting into her arm and hand, lock jaw, severe headaches, depression and anxiety.

Boal, a 38-year-old mother of three who lives in Vancouver, was first hired at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia in 2007. After the March 2016 accident she did not return to work until January 2017, when she attempted a graduated return to work that was not successful. She has since been employed in another job but only on a part-time basis.

ICBC, which had conduct of the defence, challenged Boal’s credibility and reliability, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lisa Warren found her testimony to be consistent and reliable and accepted it.

The auto insurer also argued that Boal should have intervened sooner and was partly to blame for the accident and sought to have the award reduced on those grounds.

But the judge found that the defence claim was not adequately pleaded and the evidence fell far short of establishing that she did anything that fell below the required standard of care.

Regarding Boal’s injuries, the judge said she accepted the nature, severity and progression of her symptoms and the impact they had had on her life.

Before the accident, Boal had been a happy person who enjoyed a very active social and largely pain-free life. She was the life of the party, enjoyed entertaining in her home and was a passionate partner to her husband and an involved mother.

“She is still a young person and she faces a lifetime of ongoing pain, headaches and mood symptoms,” said the judge. “Ms. Boal has had to endure a series of painful treatments and medications that cause side effects. She has had to devote time to rehabilitation and counselling.”

The injuries have had a “devastating” effect on all aspects of Boal’s life, resulting in her being left a “shadow” of her former dynamic and outgoing self, added the judge.

Had the accident not occurred, Boal would have continued to work as an ICBC driving examiner and would have attempted to secure a transfer to a better paying position or as a manager, said Warren.

The judge awarded at total of $2,237,639 in damages. The award included $1,040,000 for loss of future earning capacity, $618,932 for cost of future care, $290,000 for past loss of income and $220,000 for pain and suffering.

“We fought really hard for this outcome,” Boal said in an interview Thursday. “ICBC tried to stonewall the process multiple times, so it’s been a very long road to get here.”

She thanked her lawyer, Richard Parsons, and his legal team for getting her a judgment that she said would allow her to continue her treatments and not have to worry about where the money was going to come from.

kfraser@postmedia.com

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