What evidence is needed to prove income loss in personal injury claims?

Takeloo v Flahmeri, 2024 BCSC 2380, a trial decision last year in which I was defence counsel along with Kayla Wrolson, demonstrates the importance of coherent and organized evidence to establish past and future loss of income claims. This was a personal injury case related to injuries that the 44-year-old plaintiff suffered in a motor vehicle accident in 2017. The plaintiff sought more than $3 million in damages. His award was $90,000.

The plaintiff alleged that he had to shut down his truck driving business after the accident due to his injuries. He sought approximately $370,000 in past loss of earnings and almost $2.5 million in future loss of earnings for this loss. He provided a large volume of documents for his business in 2015, 2016, and 2017, along with numerous income tax records. The plaintiff also relied on an expert report by an economist who provided past and future income loss projections based on average truck driver incomes in BC. The defendants relied on an expert report by an accountant and business valuator, who opined that the plaintiff’s business was not successful at the time of the accident.

In dismissing the plaintiff’s loss of income claims, the trial judge stated that “the evidence regarding the plaintiff’s business was difficult to follow, woefully unorganized and incomplete.” The Court held that it was not the Court’s role to review a mass of incomplete and disorganized documents to cobble together an estimate of actual income. The trial judge found that the plaintiff failed to provide coherent evidence about his income.

Similarly, in dismissing the plaintiff’s cost of future claim, the Court found that the plaintiff failed to adduce evidence as the cost of recommended treatments. The trial judge stated that the Court could not ballpark a cost of future care award.

The case illustrates the importance of organized and coherent evidence to establish claims for damages in a personal injury case. An adequate evidentiary foundation is required to establish any head of damage.

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