What is justified future care costs for a plaintiff?

Future care costs are “justified” if they are both medically necessary and likely to be incurred by the plaintiff. The award of damages is speculative, and thus requires a prediction as to what will happen in future. If a plaintiff has not used a particular item or service in the past, it may be inappropriate to include the cost of that service in a future care award. However, if the evidence shows that previously rejected services will not be rejected by the plaintiff in the future, he or she can recover for such services: Izony v. Weidlich, 2006 BCSC 1315 at para. 74; O’Connell at paras. 55, 60 and 68-70.

The extent, if any, to which a future care costs award should be adjusted for contingencies depends on the specific care needs of the plaintiff. In some cases, negative contingencies are offset by positive contingencies and, therefore, a contingency adjustment is not required. In other cases, however, the award is reduced based on the prospect of improvement in the plaintiff’s condition or increased based on the prospect that additional care will be required. Each case falls to be determined on its particular facts: Gilbert v. Bottle, 2011 BCCA 144 at para. 253.