Scar Compensation & Facial Scarring Claims : Canadian Lawyers
The most common cause of accidental injury, which may give rise to a scar compensation claim relates to incidents that occur in the workplace caused by the negligence of the employer or a co-worker, whilst most facial scarring compensation claims result from motor vehicle accidents, particularly amongst passengers who fail to wear a seatbelt. In both cases, laceration injuries are common and the degree of scarring depends on the extent of the injury coupled to some extent with the individual’s propensity to either heal fully with minimal obvious effects or to develop disfiguring scars which may have a contribution from infection caused by inadequate health care.
Negligence
There are no fault schemes in Canada for motor vehicle collisions and accidents at work, however in both cases, awards are very limited compared with damages available in a scar compensation claim heard in a court of law. Both bodily scars and facial scarring compensation claims, in common with other personal injury claims in ac court of law, require the proof of negligence against the party alleged to be to blame for causing the accident. Negligence in its simplest terms means a failure to take reasonable care in consideration of the circumstances and its most common definition is as follows :-
“Negligence is the omission to do something
which a reasonable man, guided upon those
considerations which ordinarily regulate the
conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing
something which a prudent and reasonable man
would not do.”
Contributory Negligence
The doctrine of contributory negligence is used when blame is attributed to more than one individual including the person who is bringing the claim. You can make a scar compensation claim even if you were partly to blame. When assessing damages a judge will attribute percentages of blame to relative parties and whatever contribution you are deemed to have, will be reflected in the ultimate award of damages which will be a figure based on full liability reduced by the percentage of blame.
Compensation
The award of damages made in a scar compensation claim is a complex issue particularly if it is a facial scarring compensation claim. Damages are awarded with the intention of putting a victim back into the position that they would have been in had the accident not occurred which is clearly a ridiculous proposition especially in the case of serious facial scarring however an award of compensation can at least help to make life more comfortable for the victim. The starting point for assessing the pain and suffering element of scar compensation is in relation to three factors which are the extent of the injury, the recovery time and any long terms consequences. Judges tend to be subjective when assessing damages for scarring and tend to favour youth and in the case of facial scarring are likely to award more to a disfigured young woman than a disfigured young man. Not exactly fair but that’s the way it usually is.
In addition to assessed items including pain and suffering, loss of lifestyle and loss of congenial employment, damages are also payable for direct financial losses including past and future wages loss, damage to personal property, domestic care and any other reasonably incurred expenses.
Legal Charges
Our personal injury lawyers do not charge any up-front fees – our legal costs are payable only when you receive your award of scar compensation. We don’t get paid until you get paid. We make accident claims risk free, leaving you to concentrate on your recovery, while we get you the injury compensation that you rightfully deserve.