A former Mackenzie man will get a slight reduction in the nearly $1-million he was awarded for injuries he suffered in a Greyhound bus crash on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Other than a minor calculation error, the B.C. Court of Appeal found no problem with a 2015 B.C. Supreme Court decision to award Ujagar Singh Dhaliwal $960,573.
Of the total, $646,058 was for past loss of income earning capacity for the years he was unable to work because of his injuries.
For a 10-month period of that total, the Court of Appeal discounted the amount by 20 per cent to reflect an 80-per-cent probability he would have found work elsewhere had he not been injured after finding the judge did not weigh the probability of that event occurring. An exact figure was not provided in the decision, issued this month.
Dhaliwal was a machine operator at a sawmill when, in December 2007, he was a passenger on a Greyhound bus traveling to the Lower Mainland to visit his family over the holiday season.
West of Hope, there was fresh snow on the ground and the driver lost control crashing the bus into a concrete barrier. The bus remained upright but there were no seatbelts.
Dhaliwal got up with support of the seats and made his way off the bus but was complaining of pain in his neck, shoulder blade, cheekbone, nose and forehead.
During the B.C. Supreme Court trial on the matter, a doctor testified Dhaliwal also sustained a concussion and the judge found Dhaliwal will continue to suffer pain as a result of his injuries.
Silverman also determined Dhaliwal, who now lives in Surrey, was unable to work in any capacity for five years and four months following the crash and only part-time thereafter.
Greyhound admitted the crash occurred as a result of the driver's negligence. At issue was the extent of Dhaliwal's injuries and how much in damages Greyhound should pay him.
