A Summerland has been awarded nearly $238,000 for damages after he was struck by a car more than four years ago.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruling was made on Feb. 22.
The collision occurred in the early evening of Dec. 23, 2014 on Milne Road in Summerland, near the foot of Giant’s Head Mountain.
Paul Henbury, who lived on the road, was walking on the gravel shoulder towards the hiking path.
He was struck when a car speeding downhill towards him lost control.
While Henbury attempted to jump out of the way, he was not able to dodge the car and was struck in the knee.
The car, driven by Ashaya Egilson, then rolled onto its roof.
Henbury thinks he had lost consciousness briefly during the accident.
He was taken to hospital for assessment and treatment. X-rays taken at the time showed nothing was broken. His wife was instructed to stay with him overnight as part of the protocol following a concussion.
In addition to cuts, scrapes and bruises from the accident, Henbury suffered more significant injury to his left knee. He also said he is suffering from chronic headaches behind his left eye, as well as intermittent neck and back pain. He says he suffered a mild traumatic brain injury that resulted in ongoing cognitive issues affecting his employment.
In a court statement, Dr. Raphael Chow said the knee injury will affect Henbury.
“He will not be able to do high impact tasks such as jogging, running, skipping, or jumping,” Chow said in a statement. “From a physical perspective, in my opinion, he will be disabled in performing tasks or jobs that require activities at and beyond the occasional-frequent rate in weight bearing and knee bending and physical demand tasks at and beyond the light-medium physical demand level.”
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Prior to the accident, Henbury had been active and enjoyed activities including cycling, hiking, skiing, golf, soccer and riding motorcycles.
Henbury also said he has had cognitive issues following the accident, but Justice G.P. Weatherill, in his judgement, said Henbury had not proved he had sustained a brain injury.
“Even if the plaintiff did suffer a mild concussion, I conclude that any cognitive issues he may have had resulting from it resolved very quickly,” Weatherill said in his ruling.
The court ruling was less than the $257,680 Weatherill had requested.
The damages awarded include general damages of $100,000, special damages of $8,000, past wage loss of $20,000, future loss of earning capacity of $80,000 and future care costs of $29,930 for a total of $237,930.
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