VANCOUVER — Just weeks before Michelle Danicek was to be called to the bar to start what a court agreed would be a promising legal career, the petite articling student was flattened on a dance floor by a falling colleague.

In a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday, Danicek was awarded $6 million for the loss of a career that ended before it began.

Danicek was 32-years-old in April 2001 when she went out for the evening with several other articling students.

As the 5-4, 110-pound woman shared the dance floor with others, her 6-2, 220-pound male colleague fell backwards on top of her.

The colleague, who had already reached a court agreement to admit some liability, testified that he was likely intoxicated at the time.

Danicek, who had just completed her articles and was considered a rising star with a unique ability to bring work to the company, was left with a brain injury, debilitating headaches and an inability to concentrate.

"I am satisfied she likely will not be capable of working at the job she held before the dance accident in the future," wrote Justice Stephen Kelleher.

"It is clear that the plaintiff has been rendered less marketable and cannot take advantage of job opportunities she might otherwise have."

Court heard Danicek had a difficult childhood and had two children while she was still young. Still, she put herself through a series of jobs and later, law school. Her law firm, Alexander Holburn Beaudin and Lang, considered her a valuable employee.

But after the accident, the dedicated long-distance runner found she could not concentrate at work.

She took a leave of absence to recuperate, but upon returning to the job, was able to function only by taking vast quantities of Advil -- sometimes 30 pills a day, court heard.

Her partner and daughters testified she would come home from work completely exhausted, unable to do anything but head to bed. On some bad days, her partner testified she would flop down on the bed, asleep in her clothes, and he would have to undress her.

Over the years, Danicek visited a series of doctors, specialists, psychiatrists and therapists in an effort to get some relief from the pain.

Things began to improve, she testified, but then she was hit from behind in an accident on Vancouver's Lion's Gate bridge.

Danicek named the driver of that vehicle as one of those liable for damages in her suit, but Kelleher concluded there wasn't enough evidence to suggest the bridge accident was an aggravating factor.

Of the total $5.9 million award, he assessed damages to the driver at only $10,595.

A year after the car accident, Danicek went on disability leave and her employment was terminated during the trial.

Lawyers for her law firm's insurance company noted that even after the car accident, Danicek continued to receive glowing performance appraisals and close colleagues were aware of her headaches, but were surprised when she concluded she could not carry on.

Court also heard Danicek had suffered concussions in the past.

The judge dismissed most of Danicek's claims that the car accident had made things worse.

Kelleher ruled Danicek's evidence was often contradictory and in some cases, she may have tailored her evidence to her own advantage.

"This may be unconscious, but several incidents of this tendency when considered together lead me to conclude that there are sharp limits to the reliability of her evidence."

The judge found most of the disability Danicek was suffering was from the dance floor accident.

"There is a high likelihood she would have become a partner, either at Alexander Holburn or some other large commercial firm," he wrote.

"For these same reasons, there is a strong likelihood that she would have been eligible for bonuses and would have ended up toward the high end of salary ranges in each year."