$45,000 Non-Pecuniary Assessment For Lingering "Moderate" Soft Tissue Injuries

Adding to this site’s archived case summaries of soft tissue injury damage awards, reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, assessing damages for moderate soft tissue injuries.
In today’s case (Wong v. Toor) the Plaintiff was involved in a 2013 rear end collision.  He suffered a moderate soft tissue injury to his neck which was ongoing at the time of trial and posed some lingering difficulties which were expected to continue.  In assessing non-pecuniary damages at $45,000 Madam Justice Young provided the following reasons:

[57]         I will analyse the factors before arriving at my conclusion:

(a)            The plaintiff was 69 years of age at the time of the accident and 71 at the time of trial.

(b)            He sustained a moderate soft tissue injury to the neck.

(c)            The pain has ranged between the mild to moderate range and I find that the residual effect of the accident is in the mild/intermittent range but is likely to be permanent.

(d)            There are intermittent periods of disability where the plaintiff only gets relief from lying down and resting.  He might get more effective relief if he were to take analgesics or pursue more acupuncture.

(e)            I find that Mr. Wong has residual discomfort with driving.  It is not completely debilitating.  He is able to drive but he still feels some ill ease at stop lights.

(f)              There has been some loss of enjoyment of life.  Mr. Wong enjoyed excellent health before the accident and now he suffers intermittently from neck pain that never goes away.  He has curtailed certain leisure activities that he used to enjoy and I find that the pain and fear of driving contributed to his decision to retire.

[58]         Given those findings, Mr. Wong is entitled to $45,000 for general damages.