How is a brain injury valued in Queensland?

On the Injury Scale Value from 0 to 100, like other injuries, once the injury is proved.

What if scans do not show a brain injury?

The claim is harder to prove; in Cabato (2025) the court valued the neck injury instead.

Can children sue for injuries from pollution?

They can, through a litigation guardian, but must prove duty, breach and causation; the Mount Isa lead claim failed in 2023.

What is the statute of limitations for head & brain claims in Queensland?

3 years from discoverability. Source: Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld). Filing after the period expires generally bars the claim absent a tolling exception.

QLD

★ Queensland · head & brain

Head & brain settlements
in Queensland.

By MyClaimWorth EditorialReviewed by Abd Shanti, FounderPublished 9 May 2026Updated 30 September 20269 min read

Brain injury claims in Queensland stand or fall on proof. A plaintiff who said lead from the Mount Isa mine and smelter caused her brain damage when she was an infant lost in the Supreme Court in 2023: the court answered no on duty, breach and causation. A cyclist hit at Palm Beach in 2017 argued for a minor brain injury as his dominant injury, but the doctors agreed the MRI scans showed none, and his neck injury was valued instead.

Facts that decide a head & brain claim in Queensland

Three things to prove	A claimant must prove a duty of care, a breach of it, and that the breach caused the injury; if any one is not proved, the claim fails.Sanders v Mount Isa Mines Limited [2023] QSC 188
Imaging matters	Where the experts agreed the brain MRI showed no injury, the claimed brain injury was not accepted as the dominant injury.Cabato v Paltridge [2025] QDC 59
How pain and suffering is valued	General damages are fixed by an Injury Scale Value from 0 to 100, using the injury ranges in Schedule 4 of the Civil Liability Regulation, then converted to dollars by an indexation notice.MAIC, What can be claimed
Time limit	The limitation period for injury claims is three years; a court can extend it under s 31 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 when a material fact of a decisive character was not known in time.Rodgers v Chinsee [2024] QDC 55

★ QLD · reported head & brain outcomes

What Queensland courts have awarded.

Real Queensland decisions and verdicts, each linked to the court record or official report.

Sanders v Mount Isa Mines Limited & Ors
Supreme Court of Queensland · 2023
Claim failed
Suing by her litigation guardian, the plaintiff said she suffered brain damage and neurological injury from lead poisoning as an infant living in Mount Isa, within three kilometres of the defendants’ mining and smelting operations in 2007. The defendants said emissions were within prescribed limits. After a long trial the court found no duty, no breach and no causation as alleged, so the claim failed.
Cabato v Paltridge and Another
District Court of Queensland · 2025
$73,663.91
On 29 March 2017 the plaintiff, riding a bicycle at Palm Beach, collided with the defendant’s car; he was agreed to be 25% at fault. He argued for a minor brain injury as his dominant injury with a 25% uplift, ISV 25. The doctors agreed the brain MRI showed no injury. The court valued the neck injury at ISV 6 and the total at ISV 12, $19,770, and gave judgment for $73,663.91.

★ QLD · head & brain · in practice

What changes the number here.

What actually moves a head & brain settlement in Queensland.

1
Get neurological assessment and imaging early; without objective evidence a brain injury claim is hard to prove.
2
In environmental exposure claims, expert evidence on the source and dose decides causation.
3
Your own share of fault is taken off the whole award.

★ QLD · statute of limitations

3 years from discoverability

Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld)

★ QLD · fault rule

Common-law contributory reduction

Contributory-negligence reduction under Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld).

★ QLD · caps

What caps recovery.

Statutory caps that may bear on a head & brain settlement in Queensland.

Injury Scale Value cap
Civil Liability Act PI
AU$200k+ at ISV 100
Civil Liability Regulation 2014 (Qld)

★ head & brain · same region & fault regime

Compare to like jurisdictions.

How Queensland's fault rule and limitation period compare to jurisdictions in the same Australia region and to those running the same fault rule for head & brain claims.

Jurisdiction	Fault rule	Limitation	Head & brain page
Queensland · you are here	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability	—
Tasmania	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability	TAS · head & brain
Australian Capital Territory	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability	ACT · head & brain
New South Wales	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability	NSW · head & brain →
Victoria	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability (subject to 12-year longstop)	VIC · head & brain →
Western Australia	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability with 12-year longstop	WA · head & brain →
South Australia	Common-law contributory reduction	3 years from discoverability	SA · head & brain
Northern Territory	No-fault statutory scheme	3 years	NT · head & brain

★ QLD · head & brain · frequently asked

Common questions.

Each answer is independently coherent and references the relevant statute or authority document.

How is a brain injury valued in Queensland?
On the Injury Scale Value from 0 to 100, like other injuries, once the injury is proved.
What if scans do not show a brain injury?
The claim is harder to prove; in Cabato (2025) the court valued the neck injury instead.
Can children sue for injuries from pollution?
They can, through a litigation guardian, but must prove duty, breach and causation; the Mount Isa lead claim failed in 2023.
What is the statute of limitations for head & brain claims in Queensland?
3 years from discoverability. Source: Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld). Filing after the period expires generally bars the claim absent a tolling exception.

Sources

Checked 2026-09-30.

★ all of QLD

Queensland overview

Fault rule, statute, caps, and key facts for Queensland as a whole.

★ national frame

Head & brain in Australia

Head & brain band structure and severity tiers at the Australia level.

★ all 15 countries

Head & brain · everywhere

Cross-jurisdiction comparison of head & brain bands.

★ editorial note

Figures on this page are not quotes for any specific case. For representation, consult a lawyer licensed in Queensland. See /methodology, /sources, and /disclaimer.

Head & brain settlementsin Queensland.

Facts that decide a head & brain claim in Queensland

Sources

Head & brain settlements
in Queensland.