N.S. mom collects 700 signatures in fight to save daughter’s insurance settlement

By ILSTV Staff on Sep 25, 2014

 

Louise Misner’s daughter Joellan sustained a serious brain injury in a car crash in 1996 at the age of 15. The crash also claimed two young lives after the young driver swerved to miss a dog on the road in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

In the years following the crash, Joellan received a nearly $1-million settlement. Her parents say they use the money to provide extras, like therapy that isn’t available at the rehab centre where 33-year-old Joellan lives.

Louise Misner has collected more than 700 signatures in an effort to save her daughter’s insurance settlement.

Joellan sustained a serious brain injury in a car crash in 1996 at the age of 15.

But the provincial government filed papers in May, indicating it is going over that money. Provincial legislation allowing government to pursue these types of settlements was passed in 2003.

Misner has vowed to fight the government and hopes her petition will make an impact.

“Take a step back and have a second opinion please to save my daughter,” says Misner. “She deserves it. She lost her whole life in that awful accident.”
Joellan has been a patient at a provincial rehabilitation centre for more than 17 years and her daily care is paid for by the province.

Her parents receive $2,500 a month from the trust fund, and say it pays for extra care that is critical for their daughter.

“She’s a cost to them, we know that,” says Misner.

She and Joellan’s father offered the government a percentage of the settlement in 2008 but their offer was turned down.

“They said they didn’t want half of it, they wanted it all,” says Misner.

Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative MLA John Lohr has sent a letter to Premier Stephen McNeil, asking him to reconsider government’s approach.
“This is 18 years on and they’re going after this sum of money and I think that they shouldn’t be clawing back like that,” says Lohr.

“They’re willing to work with the government on this. It should not have to go to court. They should be able to work with Louise and Byron and sort this out.”
Politicians will head back to the legislature this Thursday. Lohr plans to present the petition sometime next week.

A spokesperson for the premier says he can’t comment on the situation while it’s before the courts.

A court date has been set for December.
Source: CTV Atlantic

Source: http://www.ilstv.com/n-s-mom-collects-700-signatures-in-fight-to-save-daughters-insurance-settlement/