If you have been injured in an accident and the time is approaching to begin settlement discussions with the other party, a natural question to ask is how much you might receive as a damage award. There are many different considerations that will come into play when you receive compensation for your injuries.
Why Settle?
A settlement is a negotiated agreement between the parties involved in the accident. Working with your lawyer, the goal is to come to an agreement with the defendant’s insurance company and their lawyer as to how much they will pay you as compensation for your injuries.
Whenever possible, a settlement is preferable to going to trial. Trials are time-consuming. It can take years before your case is ready to go to court, meaning you may wait a long time for compensation. Trials are also costly – contingency fee agreements usually involve an increase in fees if your case goes to trial, which means less money in your pocket.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, the settlement process gives you more control over the outcome. When you go to court, the decision is entirely in the hands of the judge. This can be risky. The court may be bound by prior case law, allowing less flexibility to consider your personal, social and economic factors. As well, for a variety of reasons, the court may view your claim more conservatively than the insurance company and their lawyer, resulting in you recovering less at trial than if you had settled.
Assessing your damages
When you enter settlement negotiations, there are many factors that come into play to determine how much compensation you should ask for. Central to the analysis is the nature and severity of your injuries and their effects on your life. Every plaintiff is different, and every damage award will be unique. It is important to have legal counsel that is experienced in analyzing medical evidence and understanding the potential long-term consequences of your type of injury. This helps present evidence that supports the full impact an injury (or injuries) has (and may have) on your life.
Although every personal injury claim is different, you may be entitled to receive the following types of compensation:
- General Damages for Pain and Suffering – this is compensation for the intangible losses that result from both physical and mental or emotional injuries.
- Past and Future Loss of Income
- Future Cost of Care – this is compensation to cover the cost of care and medical treatments the plaintiff will require in the future.
- Past and Future Loss of Housekeeping Capacity
- Miscellaneous Out of Pocket Expenses (for example, mileage, prescriptions, treatment costs, and mobility aids)
- Loss of Consortium (available to the spouse of an injured person where the marital relationship has been seriously disrupted)
Proving your claim
Before a plaintiff can be awarded compensation, either through a settlement or by the court, they will have to provide evidence of their damages. The plaintiff’s damages must be causally linked, or factually related, to the accident – that is, the losses must be a reasonable consequence of the accident. Again, it helps to have a lawyer who is well-versed in how to prove damages during the negotiation process.
Pain and suffering damages
In Alberta, there are limits on how much a plaintiff can recover for pain and suffering damages. In cases involving certain types of minor injuries, the Minor Injury Regulation (MIR) may come into play. The MIR caps how much compensation can be received for temporary soft tissue injuries like sprains, strains, and whiplash that were suffered in a motor vehicle accident. For 2026, the minor injury cap is $6,306. This is the maximum that can be received for pain and suffering in a minor injury case, although a plaintiff can still be compensated for other losses like lost wages or medical expenses. However, if these types of injuries are associated with chronic pain and do not resolve, the cap will likely not apply (more information about the minor injury cap can be found at our blog post HERE).
In cases involving more serious injuries, there is also a maximum amount that a plaintiff can be awarded for pain and suffering. In a trilogy of cases decided in 1978, the Supreme Court of Canada set a cap on the upper limit that can be awarded as damages for pain and suffering. Two lawyers from CAM LLP, Ron Cummings K.C. and Don Andrews K.C., were instrumental in the ruling and argued before the Supreme Court. At that time, the cap was set to an upper limit of $100,000. Taking inflation into account, the cap on damages for pain and suffering in 2025 was approximately $469,000. This amount is reserved for the most severe injuries, such as permanent, debilitating brain injuries or quadriplegia. More information about damages for pain and suffering and other losses can be found at our blog post HERE.
Some examples
Given the variety of factors influencing settlement outcomes, and since every plaintiff’s injuries and personal situation is unique, it is difficult to predict exactly what amount you might obtain in a settlement. However, awards that have been granted by courts in prior cases involving plaintiffs with injuries similar to yours can be used to guide discussions about how much your claim may be worth. Some recent decisions help to illustrate amounts that courts have awarded. Note that every case turns on its own facts.
In Camacho v. Lacroix, 2023 ABKB 610, the plaintiff was a 32-year-old woman who was injured in a rear-end motor vehicle accident. She was diagnosed with a whiplash injury to her cervical spine. After the accident, she continued to suffer from chronic pain in her neck and shoulder, weakness and tingling in her arm, headaches, jaw pain, sleep issues, and concentration and memory issues. The court awarded her $95,000 in general damages for pain and suffering, $261,000 for future loss of income, $99,250 for cost of future care, and $16,048 for special damages. Her total award was therefore $471,298, plus pre-judgment interest.
In Jones v Stepanenko, 2016 ABQB 295, the plaintiff, a 19-year-old woman, was injured in a rear-end accident that caused serious soft tissue injuries to her cervical and lumbar spine. She continued to suffer from severe headaches and a chronic pain condition, which included fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome. The court awarded her $80,000 in general damages for pain and suffering, $18,403 for past loss of income, $125,000 for loss of future earning capacity, $15,000 for loss of housekeeping capacity, $36,500 for cost of future care, and $7,779 in special damages. Her total award was therefore $282,683 plus pre-judgment interest.
The damages awards in these two cases illustrate the importance of having an injury lawyer who is experienced.
If you have been injured in an accident and are considering settling your matter with the other party, it is critical that you consult with a lawyer as early as possible and certainly before starting settlement negotiations. The experienced personal injury lawyers at CAM LLP can get you the compensation you deserve. CONTACT the lawyers at CAM LLP for a free legal consultation.
