A northwestern Alberta family has reached a landmark out-of-court settlement with an insurance company over injuries the daughter suffered before she was born.

Brooklynn Rewega, now 5, was injured when her pregnant mother, Lisa, was involved in a serious car accident in Dec. 31, 2000. 

Doug Rewega holds his daughter Brooklyn, 4, as his wife Lisa speaks to a reporter in Edmonton in 2005 about the car accident that resulted in her then-unborn daughter suffering brain damage, blindness and cerebral palsy.
(John Ulan/Canadian Press)

Lisa Rewega spent eight months in hospital and Brooklynn was born severely brain-damaged and blind, with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Brooklynn requires 24-hour care.

Crash investigators determined the accident was Rewega's fault, but as a fetus, Brooklynn was not covered by the family's auto insurance.

Supreme Court left loophole

In a ruling in 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada said a child can't sue its mother for damages suffered in the womb. But the ruling also left a loophole, saying provinces could allow a child to sue its mother, but only in the case of a car accident.

The family from Rainbow Lake, 140 kilometres west of High Level, lobbied the provincial government to pass a law that would allow Brooklynn to sue her mother and the insurance company for damages.

Last December, Alberta became the first province in Canada to enact legislation allowing children to sue for injuries suffered in the womb — but the law applies only to injuries suffered in car accidents.

Details not released

Rosanna Saccomani, lawyer for the Rewega family, told CBC News that she didn't expect to reach a settlement before the case went to trial.

"I honestly thought we would have to go to trial to achieve the settlement, so I'm very pleased for the family that it brings an end to their long and painful ordeal."

Saccomani wouldn't discuss details of the settlement, but she said the Rewegas can now afford to pay for Brooklynn's constant care.

"We have insurance to provide for some method of compensation when catastrophic injuries such as this occur. That's the purpose of insurance, that's why we all buy insurance [and] that's why insurance is mandatory," she said.