What Have the Courts Awarded for Particular Injuries?

This article summarises the awards by type of injury. The full table, with citations and links, is in the MVIL damages index. Unless stated, the figures are general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities before any reduction for contributory negligence.

Paraplegia and quadriplegia

These are the cases that reach the cap. Kerr (1979): K60,000 general damages within a K200,524 verdict. Yomo (1990): K35,000 for paralysis of the lower limbs, mobile on crutches. Kepa (1991): K140,000 for quadriplegia in a woman of 28. Kandaso (1992): K90,000 for a paraplegic village woman, total capped at K100,000. Kumbe (2005) and Yakupi (2006): quadriplegia and paraplegia, damages assessed at K412,000 in Yakupi (K280,000 general), K150,000 awarded. A modern paraplegia claim will always exceed the cap; the question is whether an owner or driver can be made to pay the excess.

Amputations

Leg below the knee: Stamp (1979) K20,000 plus prosthesis costs; Korrolly (1991) K25,000 plus K10,566 economic loss for a village farmer; Terema (1994) K26,000 for a married woman. Arm at mid-humerus: Ambom (1992) K35,000. Both lower limbs: Vevehupa (1983), where the reported issue was the cost of Australian treatment. A finger: Kanzie (1992), claim failed on causation.

Leg, hip and pelvic injuries

The largest group. Simple or healed fractures: Korrolly’s co-plaintiffs K5,000 and K9,000; Wisi K7,000 global; Oroeala K9,500 for a 25 per cent loss of use; David K9,000 for an ankle. Serious fractures with permanent disability: Kopele K12,000 (femur); Koieba K19,000 (femur, shortening, 50 per cent); Tommy K25,000 global (both legs); Kapia K26,000 global; Kiak K29,000 (compound tibia and fibula, 50 per cent); Etape K27,000 (hip and humerus); Jones K33,000 (hip replacement, knee arthrodesis); Oka K35,000 (both legs, bone loss); Kol (2007) K60,000 (80 to 100 per cent loss of use); Westcott (2008) K90,000 (compound femur, tibia, fibula and hand). Pelvis: Rundle K30,000; Iari K18,000 (15 to 20 per cent); Vali (2022) K80,000 with internal injuries. Hip 40 per cent: Saka (2025) K20,000; knee and collar bone: Waso (2021) K66,000.

Back and spinal injuries short of paralysis

Compression fractures of the lumbar spine: Darvill K19,000; Are K12,000 plus K7,000; Joseph K17,000; Kuntu K18,000 plus K9,000 (with wrist); Walpe K12,000 (40 per cent); Pakau K15,000; Stephens K20,000; Dinogo K25,000. Neck: Brown K18,000 (C2-C3 dislocation); Davis K15,000 (whiplash with surgery); Tuman K13,000 (neck and ribs).

Arm, shoulder and hand injuries

Toea K35,000 (useless arm plus hip); Dir K35,000 (shoulder and leg, 60 per cent); Oni (2004) K40,000 (shoulder, 70 per cent); Takura (2010) K30,000 (40 per cent); Gamias K25,000; Gembal K10,000 (deformed arm); Koli K10,000 (50 per cent of arm); Nomane K8,000 (shoulder, 15 per cent); Tabanto K8,000 (hand, reduced from K12,000); Kulange K8,000 (both hands); Tumu K8,000 (wrist); Onguglo K6,000 (wrist).

Head injuries and brain damage

Minor: Nidop K8,000 (concussion). Post-concussion syndrome: Guli K11,000; Pupune K11,000 (with facial paralysis); Maipen K12,000 (child, skull fracture); Koka K15,000 (village leader, intellectual dysfunction); Sos K20,000 (girl, intracranial haemorrhage); Eldik K28,000 (teacher, partial paralysis of hand); Wai (2006) K30,000 (50 per cent mental incapacity); Pelen (2026) K60,000 (head lacerations and leg disfigurement).

Facial, eye, chest and minor injuries

Facial scarring in a child: Coady K12,000. Near loss of sight in one eye: Yalao K30,000. Fractured ribs: Nui K6,000. Toes: Sangasib K6,500. Foot with scarring: Manios K16,000 global. Ruptured ear drum: Pyakalo K8,000. Loss of an unborn child: Yana K4,000. Infant’s collar bone: Paul K1,000.

What the pattern shows

Three things stand out from the list. First, the era matters more than almost anything else: the same compound leg fracture attracted K29,000 in 1986, K35,000 in 2001 and K90,000 in 2008, and the Supreme Court has said in terms that the old figures are outdated. Second, the occupation and setting of the claimant shape the total more than the general damages figure: a wage earner with a modest injury may recover more in economic loss than a villager with a severe one, which is why Jones (K96,661 for hip and knee injuries to a public servant) exceeds Kandaso (K90,000 general damages for a paraplegic village woman). Third, the cap flattens the top of the range: every paraplegia and quadriplegia case since 1992 has been assessed above the limit and awarded at it, so the reported K150,000 figures understate what the courts consider those injuries worth. A claimant comparing an injury with the cases should look at the general damages figure, the year, and whether the plaintiff was in paid work, and should then read the judgment itself for the medical description on which the figure rested. Where two cases with similar injuries produced very different figures, the explanation is almost always one of those three variables, or a reduction for contributory negligence that the headline figure conceals.