When someone is injured on another person’s property, the main focus is usually on visible, physical harm. Most people associate injuries like broken bones, sprains, and lacerations with a dangerous premises claim. However, sometimes accidents don’t result in physical harm, but rather serious psychological and emotional injuries.
These injuries can be just as disruptive to a person’s life as any physical harm, and under BC law, they are just as compensable. Understanding how psychological injuries are recognised and valued under the law is important if you or someone you know is a victim.
How BC Law Handles Injuries on Someone Else’s Property
The Occupiers’ Liability Act places a legal duty on anyone who controls a property to take reasonable care to ensure that visitors are safe on their premises. This extends beyond physical harm and includes psychological and emotional injuries.
To succeed in a claim under the Occupiers’ Liability Act, you must establish four things:
- The property owner or manager owed you a duty of care
- They breached that duty by failing to maintain reasonably safe premises conditions
- The breach caused your injury
- Your injury resulted in damages
The strength of your claim will depend on the specific circumstances of what happened, the nature of the hazard, and how the property owner responded to it.
Can You Claim a Psychological Injury Without a Physical Injury?
Yes, but your case must meet certain standards. A claim for purely psychological or emotional injury with no accompanying physical harm is referred to as negligent infliction of mental injury. This is distinct from intentional infliction of mental suffering, where a defendant deliberately set out to cause harm. In a negligent infliction claim, the defendant did not intend to cause psychological harm, but their failure to maintain safe premises foreseeably resulted in it.
Victims need proof that they experience a serious, prolonged disturbance, rising above ordinary annoyances, anxieties, and fears that people encounter in daily life. Upset, stress, or unhappiness don’t meet the threshold. Evidence can include testimony from friends, family members, and coworkers who observed changes in the claimant’s behaviour, personality, or daily functioning. Formal expert evidence from a psychologist or psychiatrist is not legally required, though it can strengthen a claim considerably. On the other side, defendants may call expert evidence to argue that the incident could not have caused any recognisable mental injury, which is why thorough documentation of symptoms and their impact is crucial.
How Psychological Injuries are Compensated
When a psychological injury claim succeeds, there are several categories of compensation that may be available depending on the circumstances of the case.
Non-pecuniary damages compensate for the subjective, intangible impacts of a psychological injury, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. These damages are not tied to a specific bill or financial loss but reflect the overall impact the injury has had on the victim’s life. In BC, non-pecuniary damages were originally capped at $100,000, but that figure has been adjusted for inflation and now sits at approximately $470,000.
Special damages, called pecuniary damages, reimburse actual out-of-pocket expenses already incurred as a direct result of the psychological injury. This is significant for psychological injury claims in BC because some types of mental health treatment are not covered by the province’s Medical Services Plan.
MSP does cover visits to a family doctor for mental health concerns, referrals to a psychiatrist, and mental health services accessed through a government-run hospital or clinic, but it does not cover private psychologists, registered clinical counsellors, psychotherapists, or private therapists. Many turn to these practitioners for accessible, ongoing therapy, though it is expensive. Publicly funded psychiatric care also comes with significant wait times, often stretching weeks to months, which makes it entirely reasonable for claimants to seek private treatment promptly after an incident. Those costs are recoverable, and claimants should keep all receipts and records of private treatment.
Beyond special damages, claimants may also be entitled to compensation for the cost of future care, which covers ongoing treatment expenses where the psychological injury is expected to continue, and for loss of earning capacity or lost income where the injury has affected the claimant’s ability to work.
Factors That Influence Damage Payouts
Several factors affect how much compensation you may be awarded for your case.
The severity and duration of your symptoms are among the most significant considerations. A psychological injury that is prolonged, debilitating, and significantly disrupts daily life will attract considerably higher damages than one that resolves relatively quickly. Courts look closely at how seriously the claimant’s cognitive functions and ability to participate in everyday activities were impaired, and for how long.
The impact on your daily life also matters. Courts want to see concrete evidence of how the injury has changed the way you live, work, and relate to others. This can include difficulty maintaining employment, strained personal relationships, withdrawal from activities you previously enjoyed, and changes in sleep, mood, and overall functioning.
Failing to pursue professional help after an incident can work against a claim, as it may give the property owner the opening to argue that the injury was not as serious as alleged or that the victim did not take reasonable steps to mitigate their losses. Seeking treatment promptly and consistently strengthens both the credibility and the value of the claim.
If a claimant had prior psychological difficulties, property owners may argue that the incident only aggravated an existing condition rather than caused a new one. However, this does not necessarily limit recovery. Under the thin skull and crumbling skull doctrines recognised in BC, a property owner can still be held liable for worsening a pre-existing condition, even if the claimant was more vulnerable than the average person.
Contributory negligence may reduce the amount of compensation available. If the claimant was found to be partly responsible for what happened, for example, by ignoring posted warnings or failing to take reasonable care for their own safety, damages can be reduced proportionally to reflect their share of the responsibility.
How Stephens & Holman Can Help
If you have suffered emotional or psychological harm as a result of an incident on someone else’s property, the team at Stephens & Holman has the experience to help you understand your options and pursue the compensation you may be entitled to. Contact one of our offices today to schedule a free consultation.