Coquitlam collision case ends in $365k decision

Eight years after a rear-end collision in Coquitlam, the victim was awarded more than $300,000 following a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision.

Sarbjeet Singh Maan was driving a Ford pickup truck in October 2017. He was stopped in a left-turn lane at Pinetree Way and Lougheed Highway when a Honda Civic driven by Stephanie Todd hit the truck.

While Todd admitted she would likely be found at fault, she contended: “the collision was so minor that it was unlikely to have caused the extensive symptoms” reported by Maan.

Todd told the court she came to a full stop but her car gently struck the truck when she adjusted her foot on the brake and the Civic rolled forward at about 1 kilometre-per hour.

Maan said he recalled feeling the truck shaking and his body “jerking to the left.”

According to Todd, Maan initially declined to exchange insurance information as there was no damage. However, after they were both back in their vehicles, he motioned for her to pull over, accused Todd of going 40 km/h and hitting the truck hard, adding that his neck was sore.

Maan denied that version of events, saying they’d decided to drive to safe spot to exchange information.

Following the crash, Maan started to feel pain in his should and neck, as well as numbness down his arm and into his hand.

In explaining his decision, Supreme Court Justice H. William Veenstra said the claim was complicated by Maan’s history of mental health issues, including diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

While working at the Burnaby Youth Custody facility in 2006, Maan witnessed an escape attempt in which a youth rushed at him with a jailhouse knife.

Maan subsequently went on long-term disability.

The changes to Maan’s condition are consistent with Maan’s PTSD having been exacerbated by the crash, Veenstra concluded.

Before the crash, there was a real possibility Maan would have been able to return to the workforce in some way. After the crash, Veenstra wrote that he was unable to conclude there was still a “real and substantial possibility” of Maan going back to work.

The court awarded Maan $365,500, based in part on pain and suffering, loss of housekeeping capacity, and loss of past and future earning capacity.