Jury awarded $174K in damages to woman injured in motor vehicle collision
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has awarded appeal costs to a woman who substantially succeeded in her appeal against a jury’s award of damages for her personal injuries arising from a motor vehicle collision.
In Salerno v. Sahota, 2026 BCCA 354, the appellant sustained injuries when a vehicle owned by one respondent and driven by a second respondent rear-ended her vehicle after she had stopped at a traffic light.
At trial, where liability was admitted, the appellant claimed damages of over $1.5 million. Regarding lost future earning capacity, her counsel asserted that collision-related injuries caused a 30–50 percent impairment of future earning capacity, meriting damages ranging from $512,640–$776,739.
Alternatively, counsel argued that the jury could use the same valuation method to calculate a proper award if they considered another percentage of impairment appropriate.
Challenge against jury’s damages award
The jury awarded $174,000 in total damages, comprising $100,000 in non-pecuniary damages, $50,000 for loss of future earning capacity, and $24,000 under other heads of pecuniary damages.
On appeal, the appellant advanced two grounds. She argued that the trial judge erred in:
- failing to give a limiting instruction on trial testimony references to fibromyalgia, an error allegedly affecting all heads of damages
- instructing the jury that awarding a multiple of the appellant’s annual salary or income was the usual method for valuing lost future earning capacity
If the second ground succeeded, counsel agreed that the appeal court should remit the issue of loss of future earning capacity to the lower court for a judge-alone reassessment.
British Columbia Court of Appeal partly allows appeal
On May 1, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia partly allowed the appeal based on the second ground, set aside the award for lost future earning capacity, and remitted that issue for a judge-alone reconsideration.
Injured party gets appeal costs
In supplementary reasons on costs, the BC Court of Appeal found the appellant entitled to appeal costs because she was substantially successful on appeal.
The appeal court explained that the appellant succeeded in setting aside the $50,000 award for loss of future earning capacity and requesting a limited judge-alone re-trial, during which she could pursue a significantly higher award for lost future earning capacity.
Previous injury cases in British Columbia
Here are some other injury-related decisions in the province.
In May 2025, the BC Court of Appeal affirmed the summary dismissal of a personal injury claim seeking personal injury damages under BC’s Occupiers Liability Act, 1996, arising from a slip-and-fall incident at a grocery store.
In September 2024, the Supreme Court of British Columbia found convenience store chain 7-Eleven liable for a customer’s injuries due to a 2018 slip-and-fall accident.
In April 2024, the BC Supreme Court agreed to dismiss a plaintiff’s action relating to a 2013 slip-and-fall incident based on inordinate and inexcusable delay and a failure to comply with court orders.
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