Working and Vacationing Plaintiff, with Positive Social Media Presence, Passes Verbal Threshold and is Awarded $80,000 in General Damages. For General Damages to be awarded to a Plaintiff injured in a motor vehicle accident, the impairments must be both permanent and serious (the “Verbal Threshold”). It is often considered near impossible to pass the threshold when a plaintiff resumes work and vacations post-accident. Indeed, in this case, the Plaintiff also promoted herself as living a good life on her social media accounts, which would make it exceedingly difficult to satisfy the Verbal Threshold. But on the strength of the many witnesses proffered by the plaintiff, the judge was satisfied that the plaintiff’s personal and work life changed significantly enough to satisfy the Verbal Threshold (ie: travelling less frequently, high level of fatigue after work where she is already given accommodations, etc.). The judge accepted that the alter image on the plaintiff’s social media was just that: an attempt by the plaintiff to try and appear normal to the outside world.
In addition to assessing general damages at $80,000, the judge made awards for past loss of income, loss of competitive advantage, past and future housekeeping and home maintenance ($2,500 per year to age of 70), and some future care costs ($3,000.00 per year to age 70).
Pisani v. McDaniel, 2022 ONSC 224
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc224/2022onsc224.html