Michael Thomas is a partner with Harper Grey LLP. He has a diverse litigation practice. Recently, he successfully petitioned the Supreme Court of Canada to set aside a $4 million arbitration award. He also helped recover over $4.2 million in compensation for a young man who suffered a brain injury in a motor vehicle accident.

Michael is the author of the Canadian Insurance Law Blog.

Representative Client Work

Private and Personal Injury Law

Michael provides advice, represents and advances claims on behalf of individuals and corporations. He represents clients suffering from catastrophic brain, orthopaedic and psychological injuries. In addition, he has provided advice to clients about potential actions and violations arising from the Competition Act, defended wrongful dismissal claims, represented clients before the Human Rights Tribunal, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC and the College of Dental Surgeons of BC. He has also commenced actions against the RCMP, the Superintendant of Motor Vehicles, various municipalities and both the federal and provincial governments.

Health Law

Michael provides legal services to physicians practicing in BC. Although the primary focus of this portion of his practice involves defending civil actions, he has also appeared on behalf of physicians before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC and the Human Rights Tribunal. Michael is a member of the firm's Compromised Infants Group.

Insurance Law

Michael's insurance practice primarily consists of representing insurance companies and their insureds in claims brought against them for personal injury, property loss, bad faith, releases and jurisdictional issues. He has defended an umber of claims involving professional or elite athletes, people suffering from catastrophic injuries, wrongful death suits and has defended clients involving claims where sexual abuse/misconduct, defamation, and malicious prosecution have been alleged. In addition, Michael has obtained substantial recoveries for insurers by pursuing subrogated claims on their behalf in the areas of product liability, flood, structural defects, motor vehicle accidents and air accidents.

Past Cases

Michael has been lead counsel before the British Columbia Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of British Columbia on both judge alone and jury trials, the Human Rights Tribunal, and the Provincial Court of British Columbia. Cases that Michael has been counsel on that have proceeded to formal adjudication include:

ICBC v. Suska; Robertson v. Slater Vecchio; Huang v. Stogryn [jury trial] Kemp v. Precious; Thibodeau v. Stanevicius et al; Alpha Controls Ltd. et al v. Ferguson; Shantz v. Smyth; Yeh v. Yuen and Moseley; McMurray v. Marshall and the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, Blace v. Dundas and Mutat; Craig v. ICBC; Sam v. Wilson et al.; Thon and Thon v. MPIC and ICBC; Edwards v. Moran; VSH Management v. Burgess, Austin and Associates et al.; Yarrow v. Marsh [jury trial]; Luoma v. Henwood; Drage v. Pon; Winters v. deCouto; Drage v. Fitzpatrick and Page; Devlin v. College of Physicians & Surgeons; Craig v. ICBC; Dhami v. ICBC and Dhami v. Abengoza; Flisiak v. Bouaziz, Otto and Sproul; S v. C, D and R [Human Rights Tribunal hearing]; Bezjak v. Jang and Laser Rejuvinations Clinic; Bezjak v. Jang; Thon v. Podollan; Turko v. Western Union Insurance Company; Singh and Dhaliwal v. ICBC [jury trial]; Blackwater v. Plint; Azghar v. Western Union Insurance Company; and Singh v. Western Union Insurance Company.

In addition, Michael has conducted numerous applications, pre-trial conferences, mediations, discoveries and depositions.

Professional & Civic Activities

• Member, Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia
• Member, American Association for Justice
• Member, Canadian Defence Lawyers
• Member, Defense Research Institute
• Member, National Association of Subrogation Professionals
• Member, Canadian Bar Association
• Member, Vancouver Bar Association
• Member, Medical Legal Society
• Trainer in litigation and general insurance issues for insurance adjusters
• Instructor, Advocacy, at the University of British Columbia’s Law School
• Founder and a Contributing Author to Harper Grey LLP’s Insurance Law NetLetter, published biweekly on Quicklaw/Lexus
• Author of the Canadian Insurance Law Blog

Background

Michael grew up in White Rock, B.C. He has earned three degrees from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario: B.A. (Honours), M.A (Economics) and LL.B.

Before joining Harper Grey LLP, Michael was a commerce officer at the Competition Bureau of Canada. His primary duties were to enforce the civil provisions of the Competition Act. In addition, he received training from the RCMP in interview and interrogation techniques and is certified as an expert witness in the search and seizure of electronic information. During law school Michael represented inmates in parole and disciplinary hearings before various institutions, and assisted inmates with conviction and sentencing appeals.

Michael has his pilot’s licence and is the owner of a Piper Cherokee. He swims regularly with a Masters swim club and also enjoys running and biking.