Robert Brun, KC and Ryan Monty were counsel for one of the respondents in Gill v. Seikham, 2025 BCCA 356, where the Court of Appeal provided a succinct analysis of the state of the law on liability in BC and dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal from the trial court finding that she was 20% contributorily negligent for the second of two accidents.

Ryan was trial counsel and, in cross examination, elicited key evidence from the plaintiff about her own culpability in her second accident. Namely, she saw a vehicle behind her not slowing down, but was too close to the vehicle in front of her to pull over enough to avoid being hit. The trial judge found she was following too closely behind the vehicle in front of her in the circumstances. The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge’s decision finding that the duty to not follow too closely (s. 162(1) of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act) is for the protection of all motorists, not just the motorist ahead of the driver to whom it applies, and that the application of this duty to the plaintiff was reasonable in the circumstances.