Psychological Injury Compensation Payouts Qld: 13 Court Awards
These are Queensland court judgments where a psychological or psychiatric injury, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or an adjustment disorder, was the main injury. It is the largest group in the database, and around half of these claims failed, including most of the workplace claims about bullying, suspensions and performance management.
Successful claims include assaults at and away from work, motor vehicle accidents and historical sexual abuse. In nearly all of the awards, lost earning capacity made up most of the total. The injury itself is rated on the Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale (PIRS), and general damages were usually a small share.
This page lists 34 Queensland judgments where a psychological or psychiatric injury was the main injury. In 13 of them, decided between 2021 and 2026, the court assessed damages and the plaintiff recovered; across those, the median total award was $543,988.
- Median total damages
- $543,988
- Middle half of awards
- $239,273 - $967,113
- Full range
- $30,000 - $2,359,038
- Judgments with an award
- 13
Figures cover trials, damages assessments and substantive appeals where the court assessed damages and the plaintiff recovered. Recited settlement figures are excluded, as are cases marked out of aggregate statistics. The median is the middle award, so unlike an average it is not pulled up by a few very large awards. Every judgment is a different plaintiff with different injuries, so treat these as the observed spread in decided cases, not a prediction for any particular claim.
Showing 34 cases. Page 1 of 6. Procedural decisions hidden, tick "Include procedural decisions" above to show them.
| Injury category | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Li & Anor v Chen
[2026] QDC 111 Damages assessment
Following default judgment on liability, the court assessed damages for trespass to the person against the defendant, who had been criminally convicted of rape and drugging offences. The… |
Student | Psychiatric | Historical Abuse | 22 | $434,559 |
|
Brown v Islip & Anor
[2026] QSC 92 Damages assessment
The plaintiff, who was eight years old when she suffered PTSD in a motor vehicle accident on the Bruce Highway in 2013, recovered $238,987.00 against the CTP insurer… |
Minor / Child | Psychiatric, Right femur, Left forearm | MAIA | 8 | $238,987 |
|
Frazer v State of Queensland
[2026] QSC 82 Trial
Although the court assessed the plaintiff's damages at $678,307.30, it found the State did not breach its duty of care and that causation was not established. Judgment was… |
Professional | Psychiatric | WCRA Common Law | ~55 | $0 |
|
BYM v The Corporation of the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane trading as Brisbane Catholic Education
[2026] QCA 6 Appeal
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appellant's appeal with costs. The primary judge had found the alleged childhood sexual assault by a school groundskeeper did not occur, and… |
Student | Psychiatric | Historical Abuse | 9 | $0 |
|
Hoyes v Wellways Australia Limited ACN 093 357 165
[2025] QDC 125 Trial
The plaintiff's claim was dismissed. The court found no breach of duty causative of injury, the defendant had reasonable support and counselling systems in place, the plaintiff did… |
Community & Personal Service Worker | Psychiatric | WCRA Common Law | ~23 | $0 |
|
Habermann v Cook Shire Council
[2025] QSC 214 Trial
The Court found Cook Shire Council breached its employer's duty of care by failing to reveal in a timely way the facts demonstrating a fabricated email (falsely depicting… |
Manager | Psychiatric | WCRA Common Law | ~39 | $2,359,038 |
Looking for a specific case? Browse the full case index →, every case in the database on one page, grouped by year.
See the case schematics →, drawings of how each incident happened and the three findings each case turned on.
Roche Legal, Queensland Personal Injury Quantum Database (Web Database, 2026) <https://rochelegal.com.au/quantum-database/>
Use this citation when referring to the resource itself (e.g. in academic articles, annual reports, or media commentary). For a specific case, see the citation block on its individual page.