Judge orders TransLink to pay B.C. commuter $90K for back-breaking bus ride

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. – TransLink has been ordered to pay a British Columbia commuter $90,000 nearly five years after the man broke his back while riding a bus.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge says the Metro Vancouver transit authority is liable for the early-morning accident that led to Mark Hutchinson’s injuries in late 2010.

The then-60-year-old Langley resident was commuting to his job in Delta when his bus hit a bump, throwing him into the air and breaking his vertebra in his lower back when he landed.

The driver had a 25-year-long clean driving record and complained of dark and rainy conditions at the time of the incident.

The judge outlined in the reasons for her decision that most of Hutchinson’s compensation was for pain and suffering.

The City of Surrey was initially named as a defendant in the case but was eventually dropped from the case before the trial began.