On 21 March 2006, the ferry Queen of the North, which was owned by British Columbia Ferry Services Inc (the defendant) ran aground and subsequently sank. Two passengers were never found and were subsequently presumed dead. The defendant settled most of the claims for lost luggage and other personal property. The remaining claims on behalf of the passengers and their dependants in this class action were primarily for psychological injury.

The Court made its decision based on the presented evidence (CMI1077) and would now like to clarify its Reasons for Judgment.

The issue that was raised between the plaintiffs and the defendants was whether the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974 (Athens Convention 1974), which forms part of the Marine Liability Act, SC 2001, c 6 (the Act), precluded recovery for damages of a psychological nature due to a possible difference in wording in the French and English versions of the Act. The defendant simply conceded that it would not be necessary for the plaintiffs to argue that point in this case.

Held: The position taken by the defendant should have been more accurately stated in the Reasons for Judgment as follows:

BC Ferries has conceded, for the purposes of this case, that the Athens Convention 1974 does not preclude recovery for damages of a psychological nature and that damages, if any, for personal injury, including damages of a psychological nature, will be recoverable if otherwise recoverable at common law.

By referring to the concession made by the defendant, the Court was not intending to suggest that it was making a determination of the recovery of damages of a psychological nature under the Act and the Athens Convention 1974 outside of this case. The Court, therefore, wants to make it clear that the actual recovery of damages of a psychological nature under the Act and the Athens Convention 1974 remains an open question.

These Supplementary Reasons are to be read together with the earlier Reasons for Judgment.