B.C. woman brain injured in crash as a baby gets almost $1.2 million in damages

VANCOUVER – A woman has been awarded almost $1.2 million by the B.C. Supreme Court after her skull was fractured 17 years ago in a pedestrian crash when she was a baby.

A trial heard the unnamed woman was 16 months old and being carried by her mother across a street when they were both hit.

The plaintiff, who court heard is in the process of gender reassignment to live as a female, says she suffered a complicated mild traumatic brain injury that has had a lasting and disabling impact on her life.

Experts told the trial the accident caused a traumatic brain injury, reducing brain development, which set off cognitive and psychological difficulties.

Justice Barbara Young said the woman's brain injury has worsened those conditions.

She awarded $770,000 for loss of earning capacity, over $200,000 for future care costs, plus damages for a total of $1,159,500.

"Had the accident not occurred, the plaintiff would still have developed celiac disease and would have still been transgender," Young wrote.

"The plaintiff also would have had arachnophobia. There is no indication that the plaintiff would have had ADHD or suffered from anxiety and depression or a sleep disorder as a young child but for the accident. I find, however, that the anxiety and depression the plaintiff suffers as a result of her gender dysphoria are worsened by the underlying complicated (mild traumatic brain injury.)"