Personal Injury

Psychological Injury Lawyers in Atlantic Canada

Drafting at a desk in the firm's Moncton office

A crash can leave no mark on the body and still end a career. Post-traumatic stress, driving anxiety and depression after a collision or other trauma are compensable injuries in every Atlantic province. A psychological injury lawyer at this firm proves them the same way physical injuries are proved: with the medical record, built early and kept consistent.

The Law Compensates Mental Injury That Is Serious and Prolonged

The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed in Saadati v Moorhead, 2017 SCC 28 that a claimant does not need a named psychiatric diagnosis to recover for mental injury. What must be shown is a disturbance that is serious and prolonged, above the ordinary anxieties and fears of living. In practice, a diagnosis from a physician, psychiatrist or psychologist remains the strongest evidence, and we build the file toward one.

Proof Starts with Telling Your Doctor, Which Most People Delay

The pattern that damages these claims is silence. People report the sore neck at the first visit and mention the nightmares eight months later, and the insurer calls the gap invention. Tell your family doctor everything from the start: the flashbacks, the avoidance of driving, the sleep loss, the irritability your family sees. Accept the referrals. The treating record over time is the claim.

PTSD, Depression, Anxiety and Driving Phobia Are the Conditions Claimed Most

Post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, generalized anxiety, adjustment disorder and a specific phobia of driving are the diagnoses that recur in crash files. Each is compensable where negligence caused it. The claim recovers pain and suffering, the income lost while you could not work, therapy and medication costs, and future care where the prognosis is guarded. Counselling you paid for privately before any insurer accepted responsibility is claimed too, so keep the receipts from the start.

The Minor Injury Cap Question Is Argued, Not Assumed

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI cap pain and suffering for minor injuries, with definitions written around sprains, strains and whiplash. Whether a psychiatric condition falls inside any of them is argued on each regulation’s wording, and a serious, lasting condition is argued well outside. Newfoundland applies a deductible instead. Where the trauma was a crash, the claim structure, Section B included, is on the car accident page.

Psychological Claims and LTD Denials Arrive Together

Group disability insurers refuse mental health claims routinely, citing a lack of objective findings, or cut them off at the two-year change of definition. If you are off work, the LTD claim runs beside the injury claim and the two must tell one consistent story. The lawsuit on the policy is covered on the long-term disability page.

Each Province Has Its Own Psychological Injury Page

I Was Not Physically Hurt at All. Is There a Claim?

There can be. Mental injury is compensable on its own where it is serious, prolonged and caused by the defendant’s negligence. Witnessing harm to a family member can also ground a claim.

Will My Counselling Records Be Exposed?

Relevant records are produced in a lawsuit, within limits the court controls. Production runs between the parties, not to your employer or community. We tell every client this at the start, and privacy concerns are managed, not ignored.

What Does a Psychological Injury Lawyer Cost?

The firm acts on contingency. There is no fee unless the claim resolves.

Start with the contact page. Other claim types are listed under injury law areas.