23 Dec Defendant Who Hit Parked Vehicle Found Negligent

The Plaintiff in Toevs v. Williams, 2019 BCSC 2030, was injured in a motor vehicle accident he alleged was caused by the negligence of the Defendant. The Defendant denied he was negligent.

The Plaintiff parked his vehicle in the parking lane of a street. He crossed the street to deliver an envelope and then returned directly to his vehicle.  When he reached the driver’s door of his vehicle, he saw a Range Rover travelling towards him.  He decided not to open his driver’s door until the Range Rover drove past him.

It became apparent to the Plaintiff that the driver of the Range Rover did not see him. He believed he would be hit if he did not get out of the way. Rather than run to the front of his vehicle, he panicked and tried to get into his vehicle. His door was open less than a foot when it was hit by the Range Rover. When the door was struck, the Plaintiff was struck by it.

The Plaintiff testified that if the Defendant had stayed in his own lane, he would have avoided hitting the Plaintiff’s vehicle. The Plaintiff did not see the Range Rover slow down or move to the left before impact.

The judge found that the Plaintiff took reasonable care for his own safety when he stood beside his vehicle and waited for traffic to pass before he opened the door to get in. There was adequate space for vehicles to drive to the right of the dashed white lane marking.

The judge found the contact between the vehicles was caused by the Defendant’s failure to take reasonable care to avoid driving too close to the Plaintiff. The judge did not fault the Plaintiff for attempting to open his vehicle door partially to try to get in to avoid being struck by the Range Rover. The Plaintiff’s fear of being struck by the Range Rover was reasonable. When the Plaintiff realized he might be struck, he tried to avoid that outcome by the only means readily apparent to him at that moment. There may have been an alternative, but given that he had only a moment to decide what to do, the Plaintiff behaved reasonably.

As a result, the judge held that the Plaintiff’s injuries were caused solely by the negligence of the Defendant.