A B.C. woman who sued her mom for running her over with a station wagon on Mother’s Day four years ago has been awarded $105,000 in damages.
Kamloops resident Heidi Carson was struck after she tripped on a flower bed outside her mother Susan Henyecz’s home and stumbled onto her driveway on May 11, 2008.
Henyecz then backed her 1996 Subaru Outback into her daughter’s buttocks, knocking her to the ground where she suffered a spinal fracture that required metal pins, screws and a bone graft to heal.
The mother was found solely responsible earlier this year by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Hope Hyslop, who said the accident could have been avoided had the then-63-year-old been looking behind her as she reversed.
“The duty imposed on a reversing driver is not just when the driver starts to reverse, but throughout the entire reversing procedure and to its completion,” Hyslop wrote in her decision. “This is common sense.”
Henyecz was diagnosed with dementia in 2008 and was unable to testify in her defence. The court found no evidence to suggest her condition contributed to the accident.
The daughter, who was 35 at the time of the crash, was barefoot, wearing blue sleepwear and carrying a banana and a pair of scissors when she was hit. The 5-8, 250-lb. woman ended up in the fetal position with part of the Subaru on top of her.
In ruling on damages Tuesday, the court found Carson healed from her injuries within a year, but suffered additional personal hardships as a result of the accident.
The victim, who suffered years of chronic depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and a permanent knee injury prior to the crash, had also been battling an addiction to painkillers, but was forced to take them during her recovery.
She was awarded $90,000 in non-pecuniary damages, $10,000 for cost of future care and $5,000 for past and future income loss.
