- May Ocean near scene of her accident
Fifty-three-year-old May Ocean testified at the opening of her civil lawsuit against Economical Insurance last week nearly 10 years after the car crash which she says ruined her pewter business and destroyed her peace of mind.
“I’m trying to survive. For 10 years, I’ve been trying to survive,” Ocean told Supreme Court judge Deborah Smith who is hearing the case. “If I back down — they know I’m a fighter — I’m as good as dead,” she added. “I want to live to be a grandma.”
Ocean’s emotional testimony, lasting more than three days, was the latest turn in a story first reported by The Coast last November (see May Ocean vs. Goliath).
On December 13, 2000, Ocean’s car collided with a vehicle driven by a 22-year-old uninsured driver near her home in Whites Lake, 25 kilometres south of Halifax. Ever since, Ocean has been locked in a legal battle with her insurance company, Economical Mutual. She accuses the company of failing to pay all of her medical expenses and failing to compensate her for business losses arising from her inability to work after the accident. Ocean is also seeking financial damages for what she alleges were Economical’s negligence and bad faith in handling her claim. Since 2006 when her lawyer quit the case, Ocean has been representing herself in court.
Last July, Judge Smith split the lawsuit into three separate trials. The first, now underway, will determine who was responsible for the accident and the extent of the insurance company’s liability. A second trial will hear Ocean’s negligence claims and a third will determine if the company will have to pay damages. Ocean is also suing Raymond Patrick Sullivan, the driver of the other car.
Ocean says she feels threatened
In her testimony last week, Ocean returned again and again to what she sees as threats from the insurance industry. She repeatedly told Judge Smith she fears for her own safety and the safety of her son and daughter as she exposes what she claims are the monopoly powers of insurance companies.
“I’m scared. I’m very, very scared,” Ocean testified. “My goal is to feel as safe as I possibly can.” Ocean sought to introduce dozens of documents to call attention to the threats she says she and her family face, but Judge Smith ruled all of them inadmissable as courtroom exhibits because they weren’t related to the liability issues to be determined in the first of the three trials. The judge did note, however, that the documents would be part of the court record.
As one example of the threat she faces, Ocean referred to a report by a Halifax psychiatrist who had been hired by Economical to assess her mental health. She pointed out that the psychiatrist had diagnosed her as suffering from “delusional disorder, persecutory type.”
“That is evidence of a threat,” Ocean testified. “I still feel it as a threat.” She added it also showed how the industry gangs up on the little guy. “I dare not say [it’s a] conspiracy because that’s what gets people thrown in the looney bin.”
“Your mental health is not relevant to this trial,” Judge Smith responded. “I want you to feel comfortable and safe,” she said adding, however, that she had an obligation as a trial judge to make sure that courtroom time is used wisely.
Judge issues warning
Later in the week, Judge Smith warned Ocean that she could have to pay significant court costs if the other parties show that she is unnecessarily prolonging the trial. “Every day that we’re here is amazingly expensive,” the judge said adding that someone found to have unnecessarily extended the length of the trial could face a penalty of $2,000 a day plus regular court costs.
“I’m not trying to stop you or shut you down,” Judge Smith said. “Two thousand dollars a day is a lot of money.”
Ocean responded that her business was earning a million dollars in annual revenues before the accident. As a business person, she suggested, she knew all about large sums of money. “My life and my kids’ lives are worth more than $2,000 a day,” she added.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.
