TransLink has been ordered to pay a Langley man $91,000 for pain and suffering caused after his back was broken while commuting to work on a bus five years ago.
In a judgment issued on June 18, a B.C. Supreme Court judge said Coast Bus Company was liable for the accident that took place in 2010.
Mark Hutchinson, 58, was a passenger on a bus that went over a dip in the road near Scott Road, which caused him to be ejected from his seat and to hit the seat on the way down.
The crash caused a fractured vertebrae.
Other passengers were also thrown from their seats after going over the bump.
The accident was investigated and the bus driver said it was dark and raining lightly at the time he drove over the dip in the road.
Hutchinson could not drive for two months after the incident because of the pain.
He said his life has changed dramatically — from an active lifestyle to someone who has been in constant pain for two years afterward.
The City of Surrey was initially named as a defendant in the case but was dropped from the case shortly before the trial began.