Apply the Victorian cap and significant-injury gateway to non-economic loss
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- Set the injury assessment against the significant-injury gateway and list the inputs for an indexed non-economic loss cap. Do not calculate the cap and do not prepare a percentage table.
- What the lawyer must review
- Decide whether significant injury is established on the assessment.
- Use the indexed section 28G amount. Do not treat a printed figure as today's cap.
- Section 28HA allows reference to earlier awards. It is not a percentage table.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Victoria: non-economic loss under the Wrongs Act, or pain and suffering damages under the WIRC Act
Produce. A gateway note and a blank for the indexed cap, with the assessment attached, for the lawyer to complete.
Have ready. Impairment assessment and who made it; Whether the claim is Wrongs Act or work damages; Date of the award or the likely award; Any earlier awards the lawyer wants considered.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The assessment is 6 per cent for a non-spinal physical injury. The tool records that figure against the VGSO statement of the threshold and leaves the cap blank. The lawyer confirms sections 28LB and 28LF and writes any schedule.
Stop and hand it back when
- A printed dollar figure is about to be used as today's cap.
- The assessment needed for significant injury is not in the file.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Set the injury assessment against the significant-injury gateway and list the inputs for an indexed non-economic loss cap. Do not calculate the cap and do not prepare a percentage table. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Section 28LE bars damages for non-economic loss unless the injured person has suffered significant injury. Record the assessment and who made it. Do not decide the gateway.
- The VGSO page, updated 18 May 2026, states thresholds it attributes to sections 28LB and 28LF: spinal 5 per cent or more, other physical more than 5 per cent, psychiatric 10 per cent or more, and deemed cases (loss of a foetus, loss of a breast, and a stated psychiatric injury from loss of a child). Those two sections were not opened. The lawyer confirms them.
- Section 28H varies the section 28G amount for the year beginning 1 July 2016 and each later year by the Melbourne all-groups CPI formula. Leave the dollar amount blank. The VGSO figure of $644,640 is for 2021-22 and is not today's cap.
- Section 28HA lets a court refer to earlier awards. It does not create a tariff table. For a work injury, section 340 prints a minimum and a maximum for pain and suffering and for pecuniary loss, each as varied under Division 1 of Part 13 at the date of the award. Do not use the printed figures as the varied amounts.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule of damages for a personal injury claim | Court document | AI use Yellow | Heads of damage for a plaintiff claim, with the Victorian, Queensland and New South Wales limits, in a form that can be adapted to a Queensland statement of loss and damage. |
| Non-economic loss workings | Other | AI use Yellow | Workings for pain and suffering and loss of amenities: the Victorian threshold and gazetted cap, the Queensland injury scale for 2026–27, and the New South Wales proportion of a most extreme case. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.
Sources
- Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) section 28LE · 2026-10-23
- Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) section 28H · 2026-10-23
- Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) section 28HA · 2026-10-23
- Victorian Government Solicitor's Office: thresholds and caps (updated 18 May 2026) · 2026-10-23
- Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic) section 340 · 2026-10-23
Section 28HAAB was not opened. The printed section 28G amount and the printed section 340 pain-and-suffering maximum are different figures. Do not say the two caps are the same.
Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) section 62, for an injury arising after 1 December 2002, fixes general damages from an injury scale value and a ministerial notice. That is not the Victorian method.
If the product supports a court document, apply the note for that court: Supreme Court Practice Note SC GEN 25 (14 May 2026), the County Court practice note on artificial intelligence by court users (9 June 2026), or the Magistrates' Court guidelines issued 19 October 2026. One tool cannot verify another. Do not put confidential or sensitive information into a public tool.