If you have suffered any form of injury as a result of someone else’s negligence in Canada and many other countries globally, you are entitled to personal injury damages. Basically, the damages are meant to cover the losses you incurred because of the injury. By and large, personal injury law is very comprehensive concept about which a plethora of texts have been written. Here is a brief overview of what’s involved in assessing damages in a personal injury case in Canada.

Assessing the damages

The truth is, it’s quite complex to assess damages at the onset of a personal injury case. On the whole, the actual cost of an injury is indefinite until the injured party seeks medical treatment, receive adequate therapy, and have time for his or her body to rehabilitate, and get better—a process that can even take years.

For injury cases like motor vehicle accidents, the party at fault (who’s found to be responsible for the accident) is required to pay monetary damages to the injured victim. In Canada, the at-fault party’s insurance company is responsible for settling the damages. The amount of damages to be paid to the plaintiff can often be agreed upon before trial—at a settlement. In fact, in Ontario, over 90% of injury cases are settled prior to trail—which is a great thing for the personal injury victims.

There are several factors to consider when assessing the value of an injury claim. These include the cause of the injury, the nature of the injury, and the impact of the injury on the victim’s ability to work or accomplish his day-to-day activities such as work, business, household chores and even recreational activities.

Once your attorney has received adequate medical information from your doctor or medical specialist, he or she will be better placed to provide more precise assessment of the claim

Compensatory damages

In Canada, most injury damages are categorized as compensatory—which simply implies that they are meant to compensate the plaintiff for the losses incurred due to injury. The goal of compensatory damages is to make the plaintiff “whole again” or bring him or her back to his or her previous state of health before the injury incidence. While some compensatory damages are quite easy to quantify (for instance, reimbursement of medical bills or property damage), others are considerably complex (for example, putting a dollar figure on pain or suffering).

Conclusion

In Canada and many other countries globally, personal injury law is always a nuanced arena that require cosmic knowledge of tort and insurance laws. That’s why it’s critical to seek legal representation to take you through the process successfully.