Matkin v. Hogg, 2015 BCSC 560
RHE represents 17 year-old involved in a Bicycle Accident.
John Rice and Cody Wagner were trial counsel for the Plaintiff, a 17 year old cyclist involved in a collision with the Defendant, a motorist insured by ICBC. The collision occurred after sunset during “advanced dusk”. The facts of what happened in the accident were controversial. RHE’s client and the Defendant driver had vastly different accounts of what happened. Our client and ICBC agreed to sever liability (who’s at fault) from the damages aspect of the case. The Plaintiff suffered a serious head injury.
ICBC took a hardline approach, taking the position that our client (the cyclist) was 100% at fault for the collision. She was not wearing a helmet and did not have an illuminated headlamp.
Even though the trial judge found that our client ran a stop sign, the Court apportioned fault 65% against our client and 35% against the Defendant driver because he could have prevented the accident had he properly looked in his side or rear-view mirrors after stopping at the stop sign and commencing a U-turn. This is a tremendous result, speaking to the heightened attention motorists must have around cyclists due to the devastating harm a car can cause to an unprotected member of our community on a bicycle.