General Damages for Paralysis and Spinal Cord Injury

General damages for paralysis are assessed at or near the ceiling Canadian law places on non pecuniary awards. A spinal cord injury that leaves a claimant unable to walk or to use their hands is the injury the Supreme Court of Canada had in front of it when it fixed that ceiling in 1978. This chapter states how courts work within it and why the general damages figure is usually the smallest part of a paralysis claim.

The Ceiling Caps the Pain Award, Not the Claim

The Supreme Court set an upper limit on damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, indexed for inflation ever since. Nothing limits the pecuniary heads. In a serious spinal cord case the cost of future care, attendant support, home modification and lost earning capacity runs to many multiples of the general damages figure, and those heads are where the case is actually won or lost. Counsel still plead the general damages award at the ceiling, because the ceiling is where a complete and permanent loss belongs.

Quadriplegia and Paraplegia Are Valued Differently

Complete quadriplegia involves loss of hand function, respiratory compromise, dependence on others for daily tasks and reliance on attendant care overnight, and it is valued at the top of the range. Paraplegia leaves the arms working, which preserves independence in transfers, driving with hand controls and a great deal of ordinary life. Incomplete injuries, where some motor or sensory function survives below the level of injury, are assessed by the function that remains instead of by the label in the discharge summary.

What General Damages for Paralysis Actually Compensate

Courts look past mobility to the consequences claimants raise most often. Neuropathic pain that no medication fully controls, loss of bladder and bowel control, pressure sores, autonomic dysreflexia in higher injuries and loss of sexual function all belong in the award. Each is compensable and each has to be in the medical evidence. The psychological consequence is compensated within the same award, and the framework in the depression and anxiety chapter applies to it.

Building the Evidence in a Catastrophic File

A life care plan, a physiatrist’s report on expected complications, an occupational therapist’s report on the home and a vocational assessment are the core documents. Video of a day in the claimant’s life is used in serious cases and carries more weight than any narrative. Because the pecuniary heads dominate, these files are built around expert evidence from the beginning. The firm runs catastrophic spinal files as car accident and workplace claims across Atlantic Canada, and what we can do for you sets out the process. Related permanent losses are covered in the amputation chapter, and the trilogy decisions are published on CanLII.