C.A. Says Trial Judge Entitled to Prefer One Medical Opinion Over Others

We’ve gotten a bit behind over the holiday season, but over the next few days, we’ll get caught up on some interesting new decisions that have been handed down this month. We’re also in the process of re-designing our Updates; more about that soon.To begin with though, the Court of Appeal today dismissed a defendant’s appeal from a finding by a trial judge, that the plaintiff had suffered a brain injury. In Brown v. Camionnage Intra-Quebec Inc., the defence argued that in concluding that the plaintiff did have a brain injury, the trial judge had accepted the evidence of one doctor in preference to that of most, if not all, of the other doctors who testified. The Court of Appeal noted that many of the other doctors had more relevant sub-specialities. But it ruled that the trial judge was entitled to decide how much weight to give to the medical evidence and that he had been within his discretion in deciding to accept the one opinion in preference to the many.