Products & Servivces

Court Testimony From Experts @ BEC

Fullowka et al v. Royal Oak Ventures et al (the "Giant Mine" case)

Between November 18 and 21, 2003, Ms. Brown was qualified to give expert economic evidence on loss of dependency, loss of valuable services (housekeeping), and tax gross-up for the 9 families who lost their husband & father on September 18, 1992 in Yellowknife, NWT. Ms. Brown gave rebuttal evidence in this case on March 1, 2004.

Lutz, J. awarded $8,867,420 in dependency losses for the 9 families, plus a further $1,251,351 for a total of $10,118,771. Care, companionship and guidance was a further $505,000 and special damages were $107,902 for a total of $10,731,672.94 [para. 1083]. Lutz, J. accepted Ms. Brown's evidence on behalf of James O'Neil, in a separate but concurrent action, and awarded him $343,075 in loss of income damages, plus special damages. [para. 1266]

Although Lutz, J. was critical of the economic evidence in general, and expressed frustration at the complexity of the evidence as well as the numerous contingencies and scenarios presented, he accepted Ms. Brown's dependency loss figures for the 6 of the 8 families, and valuable services for 6 of the 9 families. (Each family had a dependency loss and valuable services claim).Lutz, J. accepted Ms. Brown's calculation of the tax gross-up in entirety and made provisional awards in case of appeal, but did not award a tax gross-up (or management fees).

Lutz, J. adopted Ms. Brown's recently developed PCRs that are determined with relation to family size AND family income level. Prior to this case, Canadian courts were only ever presented with PCRs that varied by family size. Lutz, J. found "merit" and "tremendous depth" in Ms. Brown's analysis and accepted the newly refined Canadian rates.

Read the December 2004 issue of the Economics Editor for more detail on the Fullowka (Giant Mine) decision.