Sheilah Sweatman

The British Columbia Coroners Service has announced that the inquest into the death of Sheilah Sweatman will take place during the week of November 19, 2012 in Nelson, BC.  We are counsel for Sheilah’s family and expect to participate at the coroner’s inquest, where other lawyers will be representing the coroner, Worksafe BC, Emergency Management BC and Search and Rescue groups.  Sheilah, 29, was a volunteer member of the Nelson SAR team when she lost her life in the Goat River on June 29, 2011 while attempting to recover a vehicle from the swift water.  The fatal incident was filmed for a reality television series titled “CALLOUT: Search and Rescue” and the video, which was never televised, will likely form part of the evidence to be considered by the jury.

An inquest is a fact-finding hearing conducted by a coroner and a five member lay jury.  The jury may make recommendations designed to prevent similar deaths from recurring.

The Alberta Law Review has published Cameron Ward’s case comment on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision concerning Vancouver’s safe injection site.  The comment on Canada (A.G.) v. PHS Community Services Society, 2011 SCC 44 can be found at page 195 of Alta. Law Rev. Vol. 50, No. 1.

On Friday, November 2, 2012, British Columbia courts posted two interesting decisions.  In Carter et al. v. Attorney General of Canada et al., the judge awarded special costs to the legal team that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the prohibition against physician-assisted death.  If the lower court’s decision is upheld on appeal, federal and provincial taxpayers will pick up a legal tab estimated to exceed one million dollars (so far).

The same day, the Court of Appeal released the latest decision in a legal saga that began when a male lawyer collided with a female articling student at a firm gathering at a nightclub in 2001.  Poole v. Lombard General Insurance Company of Canada may be the last word in the litigation arising from the pratfall, which resulted in a judgment of just short of $6 million in favour of the student.  The various court decisions in this long running battle of insurance companies may not be legally significant, but they make very interesting reading.  Here’s the first paragraph of the latest:

“On the evening of April 5, 2001, the Vancouver law firm of Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang (“AHBL”) treated its associates and students to a dinner at a Vancouver restaurant, Rodney’s Oyster House. After the dinner, some of those attending decided to go to a nearby nightclub known as “Bar None”. There, events took a very unfortunate turn. The appellant Mr. Poole, a senior associate, became intoxicated and while dancing with an articling student, Ms. Danicek, fell backwards onto her. She fell to the floor and suffered a “mild traumatic brain injury” which has had a profound effect on her life. Her damages from this accident were assessed by the trial judge, Mr. Justice Kelleher, at $5,913,783. 54 and were found to be the result solely of Mr. Poole’s negligence. (See Supreme Court Docket S042714; reasons indexed as 2010 BCSC 1111.) No appeal has been taken from these findings.”

The recent disaster at Johnson’s Landing, near Kaslo, BC, is reminiscent of a landslide that occurred at Mara, BC on July 11, 1997, almost fifteen years to the day before the Johnson’s Landing event.  Fortunately, no lives were lost in the Hummingbird Creek debris torrent, which destroyed five homes, although one nearby resident died of a heart attack.  A subsequent published report into the 1997 slide  concluded that it “originated as a debris avalanche below a forest road culvert.  Drainage area above the culvert had been artificially tripled.  It appears that concentrated runoff from the road culvert was a major contributing factor in initiating the debris avalanche.”  The authors concluded, “this study reemphasizes the need to carefully examine management of watersheds with high downstream consequences”.

The residents who lost their homes were unable to obtain adequate remedial action from the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) and commenced civil litigation against the province and the forest company involved in the road construction and clearcut logging.  The cases were settled before trial.

While it is too early to come to any conclusions about the cause of this terrible event, it is imperative that all potentially hazardous sites be monitored carefully and that all full impartial investigation be conducted into this tragedy.