A Burnaby eye surgeon has been awarded $6.4 million in damages for injuries she sustained in a car accident seven years ago.
Femida Kherani's vehicle was stopped at a red light in Kerrisdale in Vancouver on March 30, 2017 when it was rear-ended by another vehicle owned by Max Da Silva but driven by Keith Rollins, according to a B.C. Supreme Court ruling last week.
Kherani, 52, told the court her head hit the headrest so hard the headrest broke.
Rollins testified the sun had been in his eye and he did not notice the stopped vehicle ahead of him.
Kherani, who operates a clinic at 3994 Hastings St. in Burnaby, sued the owner and driver, saying she suffered an accident-related concussion, frequent migraine headaches, and pain in her neck, shoulder, back, hip and knee that impacted her ability to work as an ophthalmic surgeon (a plastic surgeon for the eyes).
During a 17-day trial, Da Silva and Rollins didn't deny Kherani was injured in the crash or that the injuries impacted her ability to work, but they disputed her claim that a right shoulder surgery she underwent six years after the incident was connected to it.
Based on their experts' testimony, the defendants argued her physically demanding job, pre-existing injuries and participation in sports at a high level, including volleyball, were what caused the shoulder injuries that led to the surgery.
But witnesses for Kherani, including her husband, brother, colleagues and friends, told the court she was "not the same person" after the crash, according to the ruling.
And Kherani's expert witnesses testified the accident either caused her shoulder injury or significantly aggravated it.
In his ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gordon Weatherill said he found the evidence of Kherani's witnesses reliable and credible compared to some of the experts called for Da Silva and Rollins.
As for Kherani's evidence, Weatherill said the plaintiff is usually the most important witness in a personal injury lawsuit and he found Kherani a "genuine and honest witness."
"She did not attempt to embellish her symptoms. If anything, she tended to understate them," Weatherill said.
He ultimately ruled the crash had caused Kherani’s shoulder injury and awarded her $6.4 million in damages, calculating she had lost about $1.2 million because of having to reduce her workload and would likely lose about $4.8 million in potential future earnings.
Kherani was also awarded $144,000 for pain and suffering, $240,000 for cost of future care and $45,000 in special damages.
Da Silva and Rollins didn't present any evidence about the crash itself, so Weatherill ruled that the driver, Rollins, was 100 per cent at fault and that he and Da Silva were both liable for Kherani's injuries.
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