Agar v. Morgan, 2003 BCSC 630 affirmed on appeal 2005 BCCA 579.

Mr. Agar was 32 years old, he had cystic fibrosis (CF), and he worked as a longshoreman when he was struck by the defendant who had failed to stop at a stop sign. Mr. Agar suffered injuries to his back and knee and these injuries compromised his ability to exercise and thereby accelerated the progress of his CF. Mr. Agar required a double lung transplant and fortunately a donor was found shortly before trial.

 

ICBC denied the accident caused any significant injury and alleged that the CF was not accelerated by this collision. The trial judge rejected ICBC’s submissions and awarded $323,922. The Court of Appeal upheld the majority of the trial award and confirmed the legal test to be applied for aggravation and acceleration of a degenerative condition.