A Nova Scotia judge has issued her ruling on an auto insurance case that was the subject of a Coast cover story in 2009. In a decision released today, Supreme Court Justice Deborah Smith finds that both May Ocean and Raymond Patrick Sullivan share a portion of the blame for a collision on December 13, 2000 near Whites Lakes, about 25 kilometres south of Halifax.
The ruling says that Sullivan was 80 percent responsible because he was driving at an excessive rate of speed (around 91-kilometres per hour at impact in a 70 km zone) while Ocean shared 20 percent of the blame because she pulled onto the highway from a store parking lot at an unsafe spot.
At the time of the accident, Sullivan carried no car insurance. That meant that under Nova Scotia law, Ocean’s insurance company, Economical Mutual, was required to cover her costs. In today’s ruling, Judge Smith finds that Economical is liable for Ocean's bodily injuries up to a maximum of $200,000. However, no final decision will be made on any monetary awards until the conclusion of two more trials that will determine whether Economical showed bad faith and negligence in handling her claim and whether Ocean is entitled to recover damages from the company.
Today’s decision comes after a 25-day trial that ended in January. (See: Harsh words fly as first trial ends). In her ruling, the judge criticizes Ocean, who was representing herself in court, for unnecessarily prolonging the trial.
“Ms. Ocean appeared to be unable or unwilling to focus effectively on the matters that were in issue and seemed intent on subpoenaing witnesses and introducing evidence that was not relevant to this proceeding,” the judge writes. She also finds there was no evidence to support Ocean’s allegation that the insurance company and Sullivan had threatened her or her witnesses.
