B.C. court awards woman injured in 2018 Central Saanich crash $5.5M
CTV
A B.C. judge has awarded the surviving victim of a 2018 crash in Central Saanich nearly $5.5 million in damages.
The decision – which was issued Thursday and posted online Friday – stems from the crash that killed 51-year-old Kim Ward and left her then-48-year-old sister Tracy with "catastrophic injuries."
Anthony Leslie Jonathon Thomas, then 26, was driving a new Jeep Cherokee that belonged to Harris Victoria Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Ltd., but had been given to Aggatha Siah – a family friend of Thomas – while her financing to purchase the vehicle was pending.
In March, Thomas was found guilty of the six charges against him, including impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm.
His sentencing hearing was scheduled for June 15 and 16. A decision on sentencing has not yet been released.
The decision issued Thursday involved a civil proceeding between Tracy Ward and her mother and litigation guardian Ellen Ward, the plaintiffs, and Thomas, Siah and the dealership, the defendants.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown found that Thomas, as the person driving the vehicle, was liable for Tracy Ward's injuries. She also concluded that Siah was not yet the legal owner of the Jeep, which still belonged to the dealership, making the dealership vicariously liable for the damages.
Harris Victoria attempted to argue that Siah was the owner of the Jeep or, alternatively, that it had not consented to Thomas driving the vehicle.
Brown rejected both of these arguments, concluding that the motor vehicle purchase agreement the dealership relied upon as proof that Siah was the vehicle's owner was never intended to be a binding agreement.
