Judge awards $100k in damages to Port Coquitlam man; denies millions 

A Port Coquitlam man was awarded $100,000 following a six-year court battle over a heavily disputed car crash.

Arash Naseri Takeloo was seeking $200,000 for pain and suffering due to injuries, and roughly $1.8 million for loss of past and future earnings as a truck driver. He was also looking for $1 million for loss of business. 

“I find none of those heads of damages were supported by sufficient evidentiary basis to make an award,” ruled Justice Neena Sharma in the Dec. 31, 2024 judgment.

Takeloo ultimately did not receive any financial assistance for extra care or past and future job earnings. 

Mark Alessandrini was declared liable for the incident, which occurred after an improper lane change on United Boulevard in Coquitlam in August 2017. 

For the moment, the judgement provides clarity to a local legal saga that has gone on for over half a decade due to opposing views of the crash, witness validity, and alleged video tampering. 

The accident occurred on Aug. 27, 2017. Takeloo was on his way home to Port Coquitlam when he stopped for dinner at the Hard Rock Casino. He left around 10:30 p.m., driving along United Boulevard when he said that Alessandrini was driving too quickly and cut him off.  

Around the same time, following a 10-hour shift at a construction site, Alessandrini was driving home with his father when the two stopped at Tim Horton’s.

As Alessandrini was leaving, he got into an altercation with the driver of a black SUV in the parking lot. It spilled onto United Boulevard, where he then claimed that two SUVs were engaging in dangerous driving around him. 

Alessandrini contended he was the victim of road rage from Takeloo and a friend, Hami Hafezieh, who was driving a black SUV and works at the Hard Rock Casino. Hafezieh was behind the two vehicles and later served as a witness to the crash.

(Takeloo and Hafezieh claimed they weren’t friends before the accident, but did become close afterwards, including a period when Hafezieh lived with Takeloo following the crash.)

On Aug. 29, 2017, two days after the crash, Alessandrini viewed security footage at Maple Leaf Storage, which is located near the site of the accident. He then received the footage by mail in October 2017, and his mother dropped off the videos at an ICBC claim centre in Coquitlam in April 2018. The notice of civil claim was filed in July 2018.

The videos were not provided to Takeloo until August 2021, when Alessandrini first alleged that the videos had been edited. Multiple frames were likely missing and there appeared to be the logo of a post-production company on the video, according to an expert who analyzed the video on behalf of Alessandrini. 

When Takeloo was made aware of the video, he deemed that Alessandrini was the one who edited the video. 

Ultimately, the judge ruled the videos did not provide enough evidence to determine who was at fault. 

“The cameras were not focused on highway traffic, so the images are from some distance. Because of that, and the fact that the accident occurred at night, the quality of the video is poor,” Justice Sharma wrote. 

Takeloo said the incident caused chronic pain in his neck and back, and radiating pain in his right arm, claims that Alessandrini accepted. He added the incident caused sleep difficulties, sensitivity to noise, and aggravation of pre-existing depression, among other injuries. 

In 2022, a doctor reported that the accident caused injuries to Takeloo’s neck, upper back, and right arm. The doctor also said it re-aggravated Takeloo’s depressive symptoms. 

Sharma decided that $100,000 was sufficient for Takeloo’s injuries, considering his failure to receive immediate physiotherapy and other treatment for his injuries after the crash. 

The judge also declared there was not enough evidence to cover the roughly $3,000 to $4,000 he spent on treatments in Iran in 2022 and 2023. Documents projecting loss of business earnings were tough to follow and inconsistent, according to the justice.

Takeloo claimed he was forced to close his business in 2018 due to injuries from the crash. However, he told his family doctor in 2021 and 2022 that he began working as a truck driver on trips between Toronto and Vancouver, which the judge found suspicious. 

“I find it more probable than not that he was earning income as a truck driver in 2019, 2021 and 2022, possibly doing long-haul trips from Toronto to Vancouver,” Justice Sharma wrote. 

Both parties have until the end of the month to re-appear before the judge if they can’t agree on costs.