Everyone should know about the standard personal injury compensation rates. An accident leaves the injured person’s life in a severe mess. He can neither work nor carry on living life like before, and the bills are high-rising while the pain and suffering remain immeasurable. In such a state, the Canadian court allows and awards compensation to victims.
However, calculating compensation has some flaws and considerations. Do the lawyers account for the medical expenses of the victim? Do they take into consideration the family’s impaired standard of living, and do they count the compensation for pain and suffering? How do they do it?
This article plans to shed some light on the personal injury compensation rates and ranges as lawyers have seen from different scenarios.
Calculation of Compensation
Laws in Canada take into account how the accident has impacted you as an individual and your life as you would have lived had there been no accidents. This is better than most jurisdictions. Of course, a person who has been paralyzed for life needs to be compensated for his pain and suffering more than the victim who broke his left hand.
But if this person in question with the left hand, is a left-handed professional baseball player and he can no longer play due to the injury, the case will be different. The court will layout the same charges for the damage as in the regular guy’s case. However, the player’s lawyer will be able to change the financials of the claim since it will hurt the earning of the player post-injury.
Personal Injury Compensation Rates
As would have become evident by now, there is no definitive rate that the Canadian court can give you when it comes to personal injury. It is entirely dependent on the situation, the court’s understanding, and your lawyer’s legal knowledge of matters. The court will always consider physical and psychological injuries, and the more grave the damage, the more the compensation increases.
Also, how Canadian courts approach compensation rates are different and less in figures than the drastic and excessive compensations offered by American courts. Of course, those who are liable are held responsible, and justice is ensured, so that accident victims mostly reap sober and appropriate benefits and the wrongdoer is held accountable while not putting the latter into financial distress.
What Awards Account for
According to the decision made by the Supreme Court of Canada back in 1978, the court did set a soft limit on what is to be awarded when the victims go through pain and suffering. It accounted for a loss of amenities and loss of life expectancy other than only pain and suffering.
So, if you previously thought Canadian courts do not take into consideration the pain or suffering of the victim, know now that both quantifiable and unquantifiable damages are tried to be met by the court.
Corresponding Awards:
Personal Pain and Suffering
Initially, 100,000 dollars was regarded as the upper limit of unquantifiable or non-pecuniary losses in accidents by the Supreme Court. But this amount considerably increased due to factors such as the cost of living over the years and inflation.
Then it might come off as a decent and tolerable sum, given that the court further calculates damages assessing injuries, loss of earning capability, future and current medical expenses of the victim due to the accident, etc.
Examples of this are the top 3 cases of 2008-2009 that also rank as Canada’s top personal injury cases. The first case was that of negligent driver Gill versus Robert Marcoccia, their truck and Honda Civic collided, leaving the victim Robert with damages amounting to 16.9 million dollars.
The second case was with the Sandhu family against the Wellington Place Apartments, where a toddler of the family fell through 5 stories and landed on concrete, sustaining injuries and fractures for the negligence of the landlord. It amounted to 14.2 million dollars in damages.
The third one was with three young men, two of whom were passengers (Gordon and Morrison), and the third, their drunk pick up truck driver Greig. He swerved the car on the road hard to avoid an oncoming vehicle, for which the truck rolled off the road, making both the passengers jolt on to a ditch and suffer permanent brain and spinal cord injuries. Their damages lead to a combined total of 24 million dollars, minus a portion for negligence on the passenger’s behalf as well.
The third case conclusively shows how the court considers the entire situation and the relevant liabilities.
Loss of Family
Canadian courts are also just in compensating for the families. In treating the accident victim, a member of the family may have to make practical and financial sacrifices. In this case, the member may be entitled to be compensated by the wrongdoer. As in the third case, both Morrison and Gordon’s families were paid for the life long rehabilitation and care of the two.
Settlement of Claims
Before you calculate the rate or value of your compensation, it is necessary to have healed or to be near healing entirely from the accident. However, you have 2 years from the date of the accident before you can make your claim.
After that, you possibly will not get the right amount of compensation. So while you are healing or have healed, making sure that you maintain the two-year mark, take the help of your treatment providers and medical lawyer to decide on the amount of compensation. This will bring out the right amount for you.
Conclusion
Your personal injury compensation rates will depend heavily on the accident. A statutory deductible amount of nearly 38,000 dollars is awarded for motor vehicle accidents. Again hundreds of thousands of dollars are awarded for the brain, spinal cord, and careless medical malpractice injuries.
If you are not satisfied with what the injurer’s insurance company informally offers you, the court will take into consideration a lot of factors before awarding you with what is appropriate for you. After reading this article hope now you know the standard personal injury compensation rates.
