Vollrath v. Bruce, (2000) 282 A.R. 364 (QB)

• Judge: Lewis, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Canada)
• Case Date: Monday March 06, 2000
• Citations: (2000), 282 A.R. 364 (QB);2000 ABQB 972

Vollrath v. Bruce (2000), 282 A.R. 364 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2001] A.R. TBEd. JA.013

Dwayne R. Vollrath (plaintiff) v. Douglas G. Bruce and Gordon H. Bruce (defendants)

(Action No. 9603-03478; 2000 ABQB 972)

Indexed As: Vollrath v. Bruce

Alberta Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial District of Edmonton

Lewis, J.

December 20, 2000.

Summary:

Vollrath sued for damages for injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench allowed the action and assessed damages.

Damage Awards - Topic 70

Injury and death - Body injuries - Back - Aggravation of pre-existing condition - Prior to Vollrath's motor vehicle accident at age 41, he suffered from back pain which radiated down the back of his leg - He also suffered from a nerve root impingement and disc degeneration problems - The accident aggravated the underlying degenerative back problem - Still able to move about in an almost normal fashion and do activities such as sweep and shovel snow off his sidewalks, raise his hands over his head, retrieve a bag from the back seat of his car, lift and deliver pizzas - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench held that the measure of damages arising from all the symptoms was $50,000, but reduced the award to $25,000 where Vollrath would have experienced some of the symptoms in any event - The award included an amount for the minimal loss of past housekeeping service - See paragraphs 42 to 46, 55 and 56.

Damage Awards - Topic 495

Injury and death - General damage awards - Loss of housekeeping capacity - [See Damage Awards - Topic 70 ].

Damages - Topic 68

General principles - Considerations in assessing damages - Death of injured plaintiff before judgment - A plaintiff in a personal injury action died after trial but before judgment was released - Section 2 of the Survival of Actions Act provided that the cause of action survived for the benefit of the estate - Section 5 provided that only damages that resulted in actual financial loss to the deceased or his estate were recoverable - Rule 55 of the Alberta Rules of Court provided that whether or not the cause of action survived, there was to be no abatement by the death of either party after the hearing of all evidence but before the entry of judgment and judgment could be entered notwithstanding the death - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench opined that the Rules of Court did not provide any substantive relief in this situation - See paragraphs 59 to 64.

Damages - Topic 68

General principles - Considerations in assessing damages - Death of injured plaintiff before judgment - A plaintiff in a personal injury action died from unrelated causes after the trial but before judgment was released - Section 2 of the Survival of Actions Act provided that the cause of action survived for the estate's benefit - Section 5 provided that only damages that resulted in actual financial loss to the deceased or estate were recoverable - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench allowed the plaintiff's action and issued a nunc pro tunc order - The court noted that all the plaintiff's general damages had arisen prior to his death and that there was no award for future damages - The court back dated the order to the day before the plaintiffs' death - The purpose of the nunc pro tunc order was to avoid the unfairness of applying s. 5 and to put the plaintiff in the same position that he would have been in if the court had not delayed the judgment - See paragraphs 59 to 68.

Damages - Topic 587

Limits of compensatory damages - Intervening causes - Nonculpable accidents or events occurring prior to or after trial - Death of plaintiff before judgment - [See both Damages - Topic 68 ].

Practice - Topic 552

Parties - Death of a party - Actions that die with the person - [See second Damages - Topic 68 ].

Practice - Topic 5409

Judgments and orders - General - Nunc pro tunc - [See second Damages - Topic 68 ].

Torts - Topic 411

Negligence - Motor vehicle - Rules of the road - Making turns - Left turns - Bruce and Vollrath were each driving a truck westwardly - Bruce passed Vollrath and reentered the highway's westbound lane - A box fell out of Bruce's truck - Bruce, intending to retrieve the box, slowed down and signalled a left-hand turn - Vollrath crossed over the solid centre line to avoid a collision - Bruce started to cross the centre line - Vollrath's truck struck the front left quarter of Bruce's truck - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench held that Bruce was solely responsible for the accident - Motorists had a heavy onus when making a left-hand turn off a highway to do so safely and had to signal in sufficient time to provide reasonable warning to other drivers - Bruce should have known that Vollrath would likely try to pass - But for Bruce continuing his left-hand turn, the accident would not have occurred - See paragraphs 1 to 17.

Torts - Topic 542

Negligence - Motor vehicle - Signals and warnings - Direction signal - General - [See Torts - Topic 411 ].

Cases Noticed:

Grindrod v. Morin and Guerrette (1983), 51 N.B.R.(2d) 98; 134 A.P.R. 98 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 15, Appendix A].

Smith v. Gosse (1970), 1 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 24 (Nfld. C.A.), refd to. [para. 15, Appendix A].

Eave's Equipment v. Sundgren's Estate, [1976] A.J. No. 126 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 15].

Miller v. Vigen, [1983] A.J. No. 659 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 15, Appendix A].

Charet v. Boonstra et al. (1997), 210 A.R. 121 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 17, Appendix A].

Couillard and Labutis v. Waschulewski Estate (1988), 87 A.R. 161; 59 Alta. L.R.(2d) 62 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 36].

Cox v. Joyal et al. (1996), 182 A.R. 244 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 36].

Athey v. Leonati et al., [1996] 3 S.C.R. 458; 203 N.R. 36; 81 B.C.A.C. 243; 132 W.A.C. 243; 140 D.L.R.(4th) 235, refd to. [para. 39, Appendix A].

Martin v. Jordan, [1988] B.C.J. No. 2033 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 42].

Pryor v. Bains (1986), 69 B.C.L.R. 395 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 42].

Davies v. Chouinard (1995), 166 A.R. 363 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 44, Appendix A].

Monahan v. Nelson, [2000] 6 W.W.R. 645; 137 B.C.A.C. 251; 223 W.A.C. 251; 76 B.C.L.R.(3d) 109; 186 D.L.R.(4th) 193 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 65].

Jivraj v. Fischer (1992), 124 A.R. 81 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Mackie v. Wolfe (1994), 153 A.R. 81 (Q.B.), affd. (1996), 184 A.R. 339 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Snell v. Farrell, [1990] 2 S.C.R. 311; 110 N.R. 200; 107 N.B.R.(2d) 94; 267 A.P.R. 94; 72 D.L.R.(4th) 289, refd to. [Appendix A].

Brouwer v. Grewal and Edmonton (City) (1995), 168 A.R. 342; 30 Alta. L.R.(3d) 244 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Lowry v. Cram et al. (1999), 249 A.R. 157 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Andrews et al. v. Grand & Toy (Alberta) Ltd. et al., [1978] 2 S.C.R. 229; 19 N.R. 50; 8 A.R. 182; [1978] 1 W.W.R. 577; 83 D.L.R.(3d) 452; 3 C.C.L.T. 225, refd to. [Appendix A].

Teno et al. v. Arnold et al., [1978] 2 S.C.R. 287; 19 N.R. 1; 83 D.L.R.(3d) 609; 3 C.C.L.T. 272, refd to. [Appendix A].

Janiak v. Ippolito, [1985] 1 S.C.R. 146; 57 N.R. 241; 9 O.A.C. 1; 31 C.C.L.T. 113, refd to. [Appendix A].

Mirisklavos v. Manhas, [1996] B.C.J. No. 2038 (S.C.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Monahan v. Nelson, [1998] 10 W.W.R. 217 (B.C.S.C.), varied [2000] 6 W.W.R. 645; 137 B.C.A.C. 251; 223 W.A.C. 251; 76 B.C.L.R.(3d) 109; 186 D.L.R.(4th) 193 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

McLaren v. Schwalbe (1994), 148 A.R. 1 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Holman v. Martin (1995), 170 A.R. 267; 30 Alta. L.R.(3d) 378 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Vershoor et al. v. AGT Ltd. et al. (1999), 253 A.R. 342 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Harbora v. McIvor et al. (1997), 202 A.R. 99 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

S.A.B. et al. v. Drift Development Ltd. et al. (1999), 236 A.R. 145 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Pryor v. Bains, [1986] B.C.J. No. 29 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Van Paassen v. Burch et al. (1994), 159 A.R. 365 (Q.B.), varied (1995), 174 A.R. 387; 102 W.A.C. 387 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Cherwoniak v. Walker (1999), 249 A.R. 74 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Milina v. Bartsch (1985), 49 B.C.L.R.(2d) 33 (S.C.), affd. (1987), 49 B.C.L.R.(2d) 99 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

O'Donnell v. Manitoba Public Insurance Corp. et al. (1987), 49 Man.R.(2d) 315 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Fobel v. Dean and MacDonald (1991), 93 Sask.R. 103; 4 W.A.C. 103 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Labbee et al. v. Peters et al. (1996), 201 A.R. 241 (Q.B.), affd. (1999), 237 A.R. 382; 197 W.A.C. 382 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Miller v. Vigen, [1983] A.J. No. 659 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Samograd v. Collison (1995), 67 B.C.A.C. 223; 111 W.A.C. 223; 17 B.C.L.R.(3d) 51 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Wadman v. Clark (1975), 8 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 220; 8 A.P.R. 220 (P.E.I.S.C.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Whitfield v. Calhoun (1999), 242 A.R. 201 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Lauff v. Seewalt et al. (1999), 234 A.R. 305 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

S.F.P. v. MacDonald et al. (1999), 234 A.R. 273 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Stevens v. Okrainec (1997), 210 A.R. 161 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Versfelt v. Semler (1996), 192 A.R. 161 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Lum-Kam v. Semotiuk (1994), 151 A.R. 138 (Q.B.), refd to [Appendix A].

Olson v. New Home Certification Program of Alberta (1986), 69 A.R. 356; 44 Alta. L.R.(2d) 207 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Cox v. Joyal et al. (1996), 182 A.R. 244 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

McGinn, McGurk, Hutchinson and Baird v. Jonzon et al. (1986), 73 A.R. 264 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Tat v. Ellis et al. (1999), 228 A.R. 263; 188 W.A.C. 263 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Hetu v. Traff et al. (1999), 247 A.R. 278 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Lachowski v. Dowell Schlumberger Canada Inc. et al., [1997] A.R. Uned. 143 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Ramsay (Tichkowsky) v. Bain (1995), 170 A.R. 298 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Watkins v. Goode et al. (1995), 168 A.R. 321 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Smith v. Smart (1998), 224 A.R. 276 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Dillon v. LeRoux, [1994] 6 W.W.R. 280; 42 B.C.A.C. 176; 67 W.A.C. 176 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Bourque v. Wells (1990), 106 N.B.R.(2d) 1; 265 A.P.R. 1; 69 D.L.R.(4th) 121 (T.D.), revd. (1991), 118 N.B.R.(2d) 394; 296 A.P.R. 394; 82 D.L.R.(4th) 574 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Wiley v. Tymar Management Inc., [1995] 3 W.W.R. 684 (B.C.S.C.), affd. (1997), 87 B.C.A.C. 313; 143 W.A.C. 313 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Maslen v. Rubenstein (1993), 33 B.C.A.C. 182; 54 W.A.C. 182; 83 B.C.L.R.(2d) 131 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Duncan Estate v. Baddeley et al. (1997), 196 A.R. 161; 141 W.A.C. 161; 145 D.L.R.(4th) 708; 50 Alta. L.R.(3d) 202 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

James Estate v. Rentz (1986), 69 A.R. 198 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Poulin Estate v. Niewchas (1992), 130 A.R. 396 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Rutherford v. Swanson et al. (1999), 245 A.R. 1 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Cory et al. v. Marsh (1993), 77 B.C.A.C. 118; 38 W.A.C. 118; 77 B.C.L.R.(2d) 248 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Rayner v. Knickle and Kingston (1991), 88 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 214; 274 A.P.R. 214 (P.E.I.C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Harvey v. Harte (1999), 176 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 279; 540 A.P.R. 279 (Nfld. C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Mercer v. Sijan (1976), 72 D.L.R.(3d) 464 (Ont. C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

McCann v. Sheppard et al., [1973] 2 All E.R. 881 (C.A.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Eagles et al. v. St. Peter (1960), 26 D.L.R.(2d) 670 (N.S. Co. Ct.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Professional Sign Crafters (1988) Ltd. et al. v. Wedekind et al. (1993), 144 A.R. 81 (Q.B. Master), revd. [1994] 7 W.W.R. 137; 153 A.R. 358 (Q.B.), refd to. [Appendix A].

Statutes Noticed:

Highway Traffic Act, R.S.A. 1980, c. H-7, generally [Appendix A].

Rules of Court (Alta.), rule 55 [para. 62].

Survival of Actions Act, R.S.A. 1980, c. S-30, sect. 2, sect. 5 [para. 60].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Cooper-Stephenson, Kenneth D., Personal Injury Damages in Canada (2nd Ed. 1996), p. 848-459 [Appendix A].

Klar, Lewis N., in Tort Law (2nd Ed. 1999), Causal Connection, pp. 319 to 322, 333 to 335, 345 to 349 [Appendix A].

Klar, Linden, Cherniak, Krywocuk, Remedies in Tort, vol. 4, pp. 27-82, 28-84 [para. 44].

Sopinka, John, Lederman, S.N., and Bryant, A.W., The Law of Evidence in Canada (2nd Ed. 1999), generally [Appendix A].

Counsel:

Bruce G. MacDonald, for the plaintiff;

Sandra L. Corbett, for the defendants.

Lewis, J., of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Edmonton, heard this action on March 6, 2000, and delivered the following judgment on December 20, 2000.