General Damages for Facial Injuries

General damages for facial injuries are assessed differently from injuries anywhere else, because the face is the part of the body other people see. A permanent change to it is encountered in every conversation the injured person has. Courts award for that on top of the physical consequences. This chapter states how the two are separated, and the series index is the general damages guide.

Facial Fractures Carry Consequences Past the Healing

The orbital floor, the cheekbone, the nose and the jaw are the bones that break in a collision or an assault. An orbital fracture can leave double vision when the eye muscle is trapped. A cheekbone that heals out of position flattens one side of the face. A jaw fracture is wired or plated and leaves a bite that no longer meets correctly, which produces jaw joint pain and difficulty eating for years afterwards.

Dental Damage Is Permanent and Recurring

Teeth lost in a crash are replaced with implants or bridges that themselves need replacing across a lifetime. A cracked tooth that is crowned may still need root treatment or extraction later. The dental cost is claimed separately, and the ongoing procedures, the discomfort and the effect on eating are compensated within general damages.

Numbness and Lost Senses Are Frequently Overlooked

Nerves running through the facial bones are injured by the fracture and by the surgery to fix it. Persistent numbness of the lip, cheek or chin is common after jaw and orbital fractures, and it interferes with eating and with speech. Loss of smell after a head impact takes taste with it and is permanent in many cases, and it is compensable even though nothing about it is visible.

Visibility Raises General Damages for Facial Injuries

Two people with identical fractures receive different awards where one is left with a visible deformity or a scar across the face and the other is not. Courts consider the position and permanence of the change, the age of the injured person, how they have responded to it and what a surgeon says can still be done. Where the response is a lasting withdrawal from social life, that is valued through the chapter on psychological injury. Facial injuries are the usual outcome in the firm’s dog bite files, particularly for children. How a claim of this kind is built is set out in what we can do for you, and the firm works with no fee unless the claim resolves. Reported awards are searchable on CanLII.