The B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that found the plaintiff was actually at fault for a wintertime collision in Prince George.
Vanessa Harris appealed the decision arguing that B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale's conclusion lacked evidentiary foundation.
But in a decision issued May 28, Court of Appeal Justice Harvey Groberman found the finding Tindale made was open to him.
The decision centres on a March 11, 2011 collision between Harris, driving a car, and Myrna Niro, driving a large pickup truck with dual rear tires, on Bellamy Road.
It was a low speed collision on a road completely covered with snow and ice and with Harris' front driver's side contacting the rear driver's side wheel of Niro's pickup.
Harris contended Niro failed to keep to her side of the road but Tindale found the opposite was true.
During the original trial, held early last year, Harris said she was heading south on Bellamy at about 20 km/h and as she came around a bend saw Niro's pickup, moved over to the right to within a foot of the snowbank and stopped.
Niro said she saw Harris make a wide turn into her lane and, in response, she veered to her right and slowly drove into the snowback. Niro also said she was driving at 20 km/h or less and thought Harris was driving too fast for conditions.
An expert witness testified on Harris' behalf, but Tindale was not convinced that the photos and other evidence the expert used was strong enough to make a conclusion and Harris did not take issue with the finding in her appeal.
However, Harris did take issue with Tindale accepting the testimony of two men who lived nearby and told the court they saw Niro's pickup in the snowbank. She noted the witnesses only saw the aftermath, not the actual collision, and contended Niro continued into the snowbank after the vehicles struck.
But Groberman said there is nothing in Tindale's decision to suggest he understood anything other than that the two saw only the aftermath and not the collision itself. Tindale found that, on balance, the two independent witnesses' observations were more consistent with Niro's version of the event and so, found in her favour.
"That conclusion, in my view, was open to him," Groberman said.
Tindale had also noted a tow truck driver called to the scene had no difficulty walking around Harris' car, in contrast to her assertion she was within one foot of the snowbank, Groberman also said.
