What is a plaintiff’s loss in damages for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident?

The essential principle in the assessment of damages is that the plaintiff must be placed in the position she would have been in absent the defendants’ negligence. A defendant is not expected to put the plaintiff in a better position than she was in the moment before the accident happened. A plaintiff’s loss is comprised of the difference between her original position and her injured position after the accident: Athey v. Leonati, 1996 CanLII 183 (SCC), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 458 at para. 35.