The Sirna v. Smolinski court decision was released by the British Columbia Supreme Court in Victoria on July 3, 2007.

In the late afternoon of February 10, 2004, Elizabeth Sirna (then age 25) and her boyfriend decided to go rollerblading. As they entered the crosswalk at the intersection of Chambers and Pandora, an oncoming car smashed into Ms. Sirna. The back of her head and neck struck the windshield with such force that her body was catapulted forward onto the roadway some ten to twelve feet west of the crosswalk.

As a result of her head colliding with the car windshield and then the pavement, Ms. Sirna suffered a traumatic brain injury. She also suffered from neck pain associated with headache, paraspinal back pain, lumbar pain and a pelvic upslip.

As a result of her injuries, Ms. Sirna hired a Victoria injury lawyer and sued the driver for negligence.

At trial, the court first looked at Section 179 of the Motor Vehicle Act which sets out the responsibilities of both driver and pedestrian when the latter is in a crosswalk. According to this section, because Ms. Sirna was in the crosswalk, the driver was required to yield the right of way.

After reviewing all the evidence, the court was satisfied that the driver was 100% responsible for the accident.

The court noted that at the time of the accident, Ms. Sirna was a young healthy adult with a bright future. She was “vivacious, outgoing, highly energetic and an extremely accomplished athlete.”

The court found that as a result of the accident, Ms. Sirna sustained significant and serious ongoing physical, psychological and emotional trauma that had left her with permanent functional deficits. These deficits include chronic pain and fatigue associated with her soft tissue injuries; cognitive deficits affecting attention and memory, an impaired sense of smell and additional fatigue, all associated with her brain injury; reactive depression; and finally, a sometimes overwhelming sense of loss of the person that she was and could have been before the accident.

The court awarded Ms. Sirna the following damages:

• $200,000 – general damages for pain and suffering
• $45,000 – past loss of income (Ms. Cirna was unable to work for approximately one year after the accident)
• $800,000 – loss of future earning capacity
• $325,000 – future care costs

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