(Ben Nelms/CBC)įormerly a director at a high profile video game company, the woman was unable to work between September 2018 and May 2019. Injury lawyer Bonnie Lepin says women who are abused by their partners deserve to be financially compensated for their injuries.
IT TAKES TWO LAWSUIT FREE
The woman struggled to free herself, possibly kicking her husband in the process. The assault began after the couple - now separated - got in an argument in their kitchen while the woman was preparing breakfast for their two young children, the lawsuit said. The husband grabbed her from behind, restraining her in a bear hug while he kicked at her and struck at her upper body. The civil lawsuit describes in detail a violent incident that occurred on Sept. The sum is due in part to the wages lost by the woman, a director at a high-profile video game company.ĬBC has chosen not to name both individuals to protect the identities of the couple's children, which are protected under a court-ordered publication ban. The $800,000 award was for physical and psychological damages suffered after the woman's husband assaulted her in September 2018.Īccording to evidence submitted in the lawsuit, the attack left the woman with a concussion and bruises across her body that prevented her from performing basic tasks like driving and cooking for months. "It was such a striking example of the way that the criminal justice system can filter out and filter down incidents of violence against women in a way that really mutes the voices of women who are victims of that violence," said Janine Benedet, a law professor at the University of British Columbia.Ĭanadian victims of intimate partner violence have for decades made tort claims in civil court for sexual, physical, verbal and emotional abuse, with awards ranging from $2,500 for an assault that broke a hand to $155,000 for an attack with a shovel handle that resulted in shoulder and head injuries. provincial court noted that the husband's controlling, and at times violent, behaviour toward his wife prior to the September 2018 assault was crucial context about the relationship.
IT TAKES TWO LAWSUIT TRIAL
Justice Margot Fleming in the civil trial in B.C. The criminal sentence, on the other hand, numbers only six pages and summarizes the assault in four paragraphs.
The civil decision is a 117-page document that describes the history of the relationship in detail, from how the couple met more than two decades ago to the events of the 2018 attack and their present-day interactions. She said there is often a lack of physical evidence of the injury and its long-term impact. "Women usually do not have what it takes to go to civil court," said Hilla Kerner, a spokesperson for Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter. The two decisions highlight differences in how incidents of intimate partner violence are handled in the criminal court system, where the case is brought forward by the Crown prosecution, as opposed to civil court, where the plaintiff, in this case the victim of abuse, can have more control over the evidence brought forward.Ī Vancouver women's advocate says the civil court decision is a rare example of a judge ruling so dramatically in favour of a woman bringing forward a complaint of intimate partner violence.
The financial award for the 43-year-old woman came in a decision by a judge in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in November 2021 after her husband, 48, pleaded guilty to assault in a separate criminal trial in 2020 and was granted an absolute discharge. woman has been awarded $800,000 in damages after filing a lawsuit against her husband for assaulting her in 2018. WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.Ī B.C.
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