Court awards Kamloops woman $1.2M after two fender-benders

A Kamloops woman was awarded nearly $1.2 million in a court judgement regarding two car crashes more than six years ago.

Marlene Gwyneth Morgan was rear-ended twice in just over a year, leaving her with minor vehicle damage. Her injuries, while also apparently minor, have persisted for years, according to a Feb. 19 BC Supreme Court decision.

She told the court she’s “a broken individual” who lives with ongoing pain after the accidents and is now on long-term disability receiving CPP disability benefits.

“None of the treatments she completed or still undergoes have been successful in alleviating her symptoms,” BC Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Lynn Whately said in her decision. “I accept that Ms. Morgan loved her work and did not want to retire early.”

Morgan, who was 47 at the time of the collisions, was a social worker with Interior Health when she was rear-ended. She tried but failed to return to work and hasn’t been back since 2023.

The first collision was April 18, 2018 on Columbia Street West, where her husband’s truck was struck from behind by a taxi. The cab had minor damage while the truck, equipped with a hitch, wasn’t damaged at all.

Her husband said the force was “a lot more” than the photos suggested, according to the decision. He was in the driver’s seat and there’s no mention of him receiving an injury, but Morgan was looking sideways and suffered pain from whiplash.

Her return to work was difficult with her neck and shoulder experiencing workplace “overuse” injuries aggravated by the collision.

The second collision was just over a year later when she was again rear-ended. This time she was in her own SUV. Though it suffered some minor damage, it was less forceful than the other, according to the decision.

It was after the 2019 collision when she stopped going to work consistently. A couple hiatuses and work-hour reductions, along with regular physiotherapy, weren’t enough to alleviate the her neck and shoulder pain.

“Ms. Morgan says that as a result of the accidents, she suffers from neck pain, shoulder pain, chest pain, and headaches,” Whately’s decision read.

She hasn’t been back to work since 2023, while also telling the court she is “reluctant” to go out socially and she’s anxious when driving since the collisions.

The pain is “exhausting” and it “scrambles her brain,” she said.

The defendants argued she could have returned to work, but she hadn’t taken advantage of all the possible accommodations, like a standing desk. They also argued she “tends to focus on he negative,” telling the court Morgan is capable of improving her situation and returning to work, but she has avoided it.

Whately found they didn’t prove Morgan failed to mitigate the damages, and added Morgan had pre-existing injuries from work.

Taking into account her lost wages, costs of care and other damages, Whately awarded Morgan $1.17 million from the two collisions combined. The majority, at $715,000, was due to future earning losses.