The compensation available in a death claim is as follows:
Loss of Love, Guidance and Affection
The Courts of British Columbia have held that children are entitled to an award under this head of damage but unfortunately, a spouse is not.
The accepted range of damages is usually between $15,000.00 and $30,000.00 for children depending on their age and involvement with the deceased. When a child gets past the age of majority, limited compensation is allowed ($0- $5,000.00) except in unusual situations.
In very rare circumstances, the parents of a deceased may have a claim under this head of damage.
Loss of Services
This head of damage provides compensation for the loss of services, past and future, provided by the deceased to the family unit. Usually, an economist calculates the loss based on the average of the hours worked per week helping out in the family unit and then figuring out the loss over the lifetime of the deceased had he/she not died in the accident. This is a very complicated calculation.
Loss of Financial Support
This head of damage provides compensation for the loss of financial support, past and future, provided by the deceased to the family unit. Generally speaking, an economist is needed to calculate this figure. The economist figures out the income of the deceased and figures out how much personal consumption of that income went only to the deceased.
The remainder of the income is considered in the calculation of loss of financial support, in the past and into the future.
Out of Pocket Expenses
The law has evolved such that the out-of-pocket expenses that can be recovered generally only relate to funeral expenses and virtually nothing else.
Loss of Inheritance
The loss of inheritance a family member has suffered is the amount the family member will not receive as an inheritance in the future when the deceased normally would have died. Again, this is a very complicated calculation and considers such things as the amount of the inheritance at the time of the accident, the rate of savings of the deceased over time had the accident not occurred and negative/positive contingencies.
Contingencies/ Reduction in Claim
In a family compensation claim, the courts will consider negative and positive contingencies. Negative contingencies include the chances of remarriage, the chances of divorce, the chances of early death, etc. Positive contingencies include the chance that the deceased would have got a promotion at work, would increase services throughout his/her life to family members, etc.
Tax Gross Up
This claim is based on the fact that if a family member gets an award now for a future loss, the family member will have to pay taxes on the investment income over time. The amount of the tax gross-up award is basically compensation for having to pay taxes on the investment income.
Management Fees
The Courts may award money to a family member in order for that person to hire an investment manager to manage the award, especially if the family member has little or no investment experience. The reason for this award is that a family member receiving a large future award needs to invest it to ensure it lasts a lifetime.
Summary
There are only a limited number of family members that can receive compensation for the loss of a loved one under the Family Compensation Act. To determine the loss suffered by the claiming family member, a complicated set of calculations needs to be done which invariably means that a lawyer and economist have to be involved in the claim.
It’s important that the lawyer actually has extensive experience in family compensation claims because this is a specialized area of ICBC law.
