Approachable, relentless, and hard-working, Tony has 20 years of experience litigating tort cases, including product liability, professional negligence and major personal injury. Before joining Rice Harbut Elliott, Tony started his career as a law clerk to Justices of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and Court of Appeal, and then spent nearly a decade as a defence lawyer, gaining a keen perspective on how defendants assess and handle claims. Tony has conducted dozens of trials, contested hearings and appeals across British Columbia, and is actively involved in litigating cases nation-wide, including in Québec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the Federal Court.
In his class action practice, Tony acts for plaintiffs in claims for defective pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer products, including social media, defective vehicles and e-cigarettes, or have been victims of financial wrongdoing and privacy breaches. In his personal injury practice, Tony has helped his clients gain justice for nearly every type of serious injury arising from medical negligence, occupier’s liability, and product liability. His medical negligence practice areas include birth injury, anesthesia errors, failure to diagnose, emergency room mistakes, medical misdiagnosis, surgical errors, hospital malpractice, cerebral palsy, and more.
Tony also has significant expertise in assisting insured persons with denied life, property, and long-term disability insurance claims.
Year joined firm: 2016
Recent matter/case highlights:
- JUUL Class Action Canada - lead counsel for class members for personal injury and economic loss claims.
- Philips CPAP Class Action Canada - co-lead counsel in matter which successfully resolved for $20,000,000 in economic loss damages, personal injury claims ongoing.
- PFAS (Forever Chemicals) Class Action Canada - co-lead counsel for the Province of BC in multi-Crown class proceeding seeking compensation for testing and remediation of drinking water systems in Canada.
- CRA/CERB Data Breach - Lead counsel in a class action against Canada for breach of privacy arising from cyber security attack on Government databases.
Key practice areas:
- Appellate
- Class action
- Insurance
- Plaintiff
Sector expertise:
- Aviation
- Automotive
- Consumer goods and services
- Healthcare
- Insurance
- Media
- Pharmaceutical and life sciences
- Technology and telecommunications
Education/Alumni: LLB, University of British Columbia, 2003
Association/network memberships:
- American Association of Justice, 2019
- Trial Lawyers Association of BC, 2016
Bar Admissions:
- British Columbia, 2005
- Saskatchewan, 2022
