A West Vancouver lawyer may have lost his energy to continue working, but he did not lose a court case that awarded him more than $750,000 for injuries sustained from two car crashes.
In his Sept. 19 ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brian I. Cohen awarded Robert Granger Debou the large lump sum for damages, income loss and costs of care from the culmination of injuries sustained from the incidents in 2009 and 2010.
Debou, 68, is an experienced courtroom lawyer in the areas of criminal, civil and family law. In the two separate car accidents he was the victim.
The injuries left him with spasms and episodes of disabling pain, and the medication prescribed to him reduced his ability to focus and retain information, according to court documents. This interfered with his ability to practice law and led him to seek non-pecuniary damages to compensate him for his "loss of enjoyment of life given the serious impact of the accident-related injuries in his work and personal life," Cohen wrote in the ruling.
The defendants, Georg Besemer, and Paolo and Carmela Tessarolo, were able to bring down the original $1.7 million requested by Debou for his damages because they argued he did not have enough quality evidence to support his extensive claim of lost income.
