How have courts in Canada assessed non-pecuniary losses in personal injury cases?

While awards made in similar cases can useful tools in assessing non-pecuniary losses, each case depends on its own unique facts, so that case law can serve only as a rough guide: Trites v. Penner, 2010 BCSC 882 at paras. 118-119.

Prior to the accident the plaintiff was healthy and active young woman in the prime of her life. The defendant’s negligence has compromised her ability to enjoy the full, pain-free use of her body. I have said in other cases, and will repeat here, that for a young woman such as the plaintiff to be forced now to deal with physical deficits that do not afflict most of us until middle age is an unfortunate and serious matter (see, for example, Aubin v. Ball, 2013 BCSC 962 at para. 129).