Nanaimo parents awarded $328K for loss of support after teen killed in crosswalk

The parents of a Nanaimo teenager who was struck in a crosswalk and later died in hospital have been awarded $327,635 after a B.C. Supreme Court judge recognized the Korean practice of hyodo, in which a child is expected to provide financial and domestic support to their parents.

Jaeheon Shim, 17, was struck by a Toyota RAV4 at the intersection of Hammond Bay Road and Ventura Drive on March 6, 2019.

Jaeheon Shim, 17, was struck by a Toyota RAV4 at the intersection of Hammond Bay Road and Ventura Drive on March 6, 2019. In his decision published Tuesday, Justice David Crerar said the task of estimating the teen's future financial contributions to the family was "profoundly difficult and inherently hypothetical." (Soonyoung Baek/YouTube)

The teen, who was known as "Eric" to his Canadian friends, died one week later, just three months shy of his graduation from Dover Bay Secondary School.

The driver, 33-year-old Brandon Murdoch, pleaded guilty in 2020 to driving without due care and attention.

The SUV was owed by Toyota Credit Canada, and both Murdoch and the financing agency admitted liability, according to court documents.

Jiyeon Kim and Myeongsup Shim filed a civil suit seeking up to $1.67 million from the defendants, based on the estimated value of their only son's day-to-day contributions to the family's restaurant business and household, including for personal translation services, driving duties and housekeeping.

In his decision published Tuesday, Justice David Crerar said the task of estimating the teen's future financial contributions to the family was "profoundly difficult and inherently hypothetical."

"Central to that abstract issue is the challenging assessment of whether and to what extent Eric would have followed the traditional Korean practice of hyodo: filial piety, which generally compels children to provide economic and other support to their parents," Crerar said.

The parents relied on the expert testimony of a professor of Korean studies at the University of British Columbia, who confirmed that the duties of hyodo weigh heaviest on a traditional Korean family's eldest son and do not necessarily weaken among diaspora families.

Jaeheon Shim, 17, was struck by a Toyota RAV4 at the intersection of Hammond Bay Road and Ventura Drive on March 6, 2019. (CTV News)

While the judge acknowledged that Eric was "by all accounts a generous and hard-working young man," he balanced the family's lost-income estimates with the contingencies that their son might have moved away from home, established his own family or otherwise decreased his financial support to his parents.

Crerar also deducted the potential costs his parents would have incurred had their son pursued higher education, got married or bought a home.

The bulk of the judge's $327,635 award was allocated for the family’s loss of financial assistance, followed the by loss of housekeeping services, guidance, translation services and driving services, as well as special damages in excess of $18,000 for funeral costs.