Knee Injury Claims & Compensation Lawyers in Perth WA

Depending on the causes of a knee injury, you may be entitled to workers compensation claim, public liability claim, motor vehicle accident injury claim, or other negligent-related injury claims. Common causes of knee injury are:

• knee injury at work – workers comp knee injury claims are relatively common and often occur due to strain injuries, another common cause is falling on knees at work, or a knee impact injury at work.
• knee injuries from falling – it is often the case that workers carry large loads and suffer a range of injuries from slipping and falling, these include knee injuries from falling on concrete, patellar tendon injury from fall, fluid around the knee after fall, damage to knee cap after fall, swollen bruised knee after fall, knee infection after fall, pain behind knee after fall, nerve damage in the knee after fall. Depending on the circumstances in which your injury occurs, injured people may claim workers compensation, public liability injuries, or other negligence-related compensation claims.
• knee injury from car accident – these can occur in a car accident knee hit dashboard or knee injuries can occur due to a knee injury from rear-end collision. When a motor vehicle is involved in an accident and you are not entirely at fault, the common type of personal injury claim for this scenario is a motor injury claim.

In certain knee accident injury claims, you may qualify for several types of knee compensation claims for your personal injuries. If this is the situation you are facing, please be aware that different time limits apply, and you need to be mindful of how to best optimise the overall settlement amount for your knee injury claims. Foyle Legal has helped injured people with knee injury claims since 2012. Call us for your obligation-free claim review.

At Foyle Legal, we often see clients involved in one of the following types of knee injury.

• traumatic knee injury
• knee nerve injury
• knee tissue injury
• permanent knee injury
• knee meniscus injury
• knee replacement injury
• knee strain injury
• severe knee injury
• twisted knee injury
• dislocated knee injury
• knee impact injury
• torn medial meniscus
• ACL ligament injuries

For minor injuries, physiotherapy is the most common treatment together with general practitioner review. Knee surgery is often required for severe knee injuries. Arthroscopic knee surgery and total knee replacement (TKR) are more common in severe knee injury claims.

Depending on the type of knee injury claims, if you have an accepted claim and the surgery is recommended by the treating surgeon, you can often claim medical expenses, knee prosthesis costs, reasonable medical travel expenses, rehab costs, and other associated care and assistance expenses.

If you are in the process of negotiating a knee injury lawsuit settlement, be sure to claim back medical expenses, together with other damages that you are entitled to. For the best outcome for your personal injury claim, it is strongly recommended that you consult a specialist knee injury lawyer.

In the Western Australian workers compensation system there is a limited amount of compensation available. Here’s the updated snapshot for 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026 under WA’s indexed settings:

• Maximum for weekly income compensation (plus any permanent-impairment amounts counted against the same cap) — the General Maximum Amount / Income Compensation General Limit is $273,220. In exceptional cases of permanent total incapacity, an additional amount up to 75% of this limit may be ordered where social and financial circumstances justify it.

• Maximum for medical and health expenses — $163,932. An arbitrator may allow up to an extra 40%, and in defined circumstances up to a further 190% of the medical limit.

• Maximum for workplace rehabilitation expenses — $19,125.

  These figures are indexed annually by WorkCover WA.

If you have a knee injury at work, you may claim knee injury at work compensation which includes weekly payments of compensation (income compensation).

A knee injury claim arising from work is a kind of workers compensation claim. Workers compensation claims are administrated by WorkCover WA. In Western Australia we have a no-fault workers compensation claim system, this means you will be entitled to workers comp weekly payments (i.e, workers comp salary) if your claim is accepted by a workers compensation insurer.

In a no-fault workers compensation claim, you don’t have to prove that your employer is negligent to get medical expenses such as knee surgery paid for and get a workers comp payout.

Legally, your employer can’t reject your claim because of on the ground of negligence, however, they can and often do reject claims on the basis that the knee injury is not work-related. If your claim is pending, or rejected by the workers compensation insurer call Foyle Legal for your obligation-free claim review and for help making an application to WorkCover WA.

Return-to-work prospects after a knee injury depend on the job’s physical demands and your residual restrictions. Workers in heavy roles (e.g., diesel mechanics, drillers’ offsiders, scaffolders) often face sustained limits on kneeling, squatting, climbing, ladder work, and repetitive lifting. Some return with suitable duties (lighter tasks, fewer stairs/ladders, no confined-space crouching), while others transition to less strenuous roles such as store/parts coordination, planning, or supervisory positions. Where significant symptoms persist despite rehab and (if needed) surgery, a durable return to the pre-injury role may be unlikely.

Financially, prolonged incapacity in heavy manual occupations can push a claim toward the Income Compensation General Limit (the scheme-wide cap on weekly income compensation, which also captures permanent-impairment amounts counted against that cap). For 1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026, that limit is $273,220; medical and health expenses have a separate general limit of $163,932, and workplace rehabilitation is capped at $19,125. In exceptional cases of permanent total incapacity, an additional amount up to 75% of the income-compensation limit may be ordered.

It is often challenging to prove permanent total incapacity, because insurers often argue there is at least some capacity for alternate employment with reasonable accommodations. Early, high-quality medical evidence (functional testing, surgeon and rehab opinions) and a realistic vocational plan are key to maximising outcomes—whether that’s a safe return to work or a fair settlement within the indexed limits.

How much compensation for my knee injury at work?

Knee injuries are considered as part of injuries to the “lower limbs”. For long-duration claims (60+ days lost), the average claim cost for lower-limb injuries for the last full year period was approximately $146,741.

It should be noted that “average claim cost” includes all payments to date plus insurers’ outstanding estimates and is not the same as a negotiated settlement figure; the long-duration metrics exclude shorter claims; and the latest year is preliminary. Any knee-specific estimate still needs to reflect diagnosis, surgery, WPI, time off, and whether common law is in play.

The main factor is whether the knee injury results in the injured person being unable to return to their pre-injury work or to any work for which they have appropriate education training and experience. For this reason, attempts to work out the average workers comp settlement for knee injury claims can be misleading. We have provided information as to things that can change the outcome below.

The payout for a knee injury is largely determined by several factors including the following:

• The opinion of treating specialists and doctors conducting medico-legal reviews concerning the need for surgery;
• The extent of the knee injury verified by scans such as an MRI scan or CT scan;
• The damage to adjacent ligament structures such as the meniscus and Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL);
• Whether an ongoing knee injury is accepted by medical specialists as being caused by a work injury or whether it is caused (or partially caused) by pre-existing degeneration to the knees which is common, especially in workers doing manual work;
• Whether surgery has taken place;
• Whether the settlement is achieved through the statutory workers compensation system or as part of a common law claim;
• The rate of workers compensation weekly payments (the amount paid each week);
• Whether the injured person is able or unable to work in their pre-injury work or in other jobs for which they are suited by way of education training and experience.

A workers compensation knee injury will not result in a workers comp knee injury settlement straight away and the injured person will ordinarily have to reach medical stabilisation (a position where medical treatment is unlikely to make much of a difference to their presentation) before really knowing the correct amount for settlement of their knee injury at work.

For a minor knee injury, it makes take 12 – 18 months to get to the stabilisation point. Once the stabilisation point is reached, you can then go through the steps to properly assess your further treatment options, losses and costs, which will have a direct impact on your workers compensation settlement amount.

For example, if your knee injury requires knee surgery, your workers comp knee surgery settlement will be factored into your overall settlement payout. As a result, this will often lead to you receiving a higher amount of compensation payout. However, in most cases, your doctor won’t recommend surgery until you reach a stabilisation point. If you had settled the claim before the stabilisation point, it’s likely that you may be missing out on the component associated with workers comp knee surgery settlement.

When you’re assessed by an approved permanent impairment assessor (APIA), you’ll receive a Whole Person Impairment (WPI) rating. WPI is crucial for common law eligibility (e.g., 15%+), but your statutory permanent-impairment lump sum is paid using the indexed schedule that sets amounts by body part as a percentage of the General Maximum Amount (GMA). For 2025/26, the GMA is $273,220.

For lower limb injuries (the category that includes the knee), the current schedule amounts are: leg at or above knee – 70% = $191,254; leg below knee – 65% = $177,593. These are fixed, indexed figures derived from the GMA. The schedule is updated each 1 July and tied to the wage index.

Remember, a permanent-impairment lump sum is only one component of your overall compensation. You may also be entitled to weekly income payments (capped in total by the GMA), medical and health expenses (with a separate indexed limit), and workplace rehabilitation benefits.

Clinical factors that can change the WPI (and therefore influence your overall outcome) include knee range of movement, instability/“giving way”, crepitus, cartilage/meniscal or ACL damage, post-surgical status (e.g., reconstruction or replacement), and gait abnormalities such as a limp or valgus/varus deformity. Your assessor applies the approved Guides to these findings to produce the WPI and body-part impairment ratings that underpin your entitlements.

A total knee replacement is one of the most significant knee surgeries. Under WA’s current workers’ compensation settings (1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026), your permanent impairment for a TKR is assessed by an approved assessor and typically falls into three result bands:

• Good result (LEI 30% / WPI 12%): $57,376
• Fair result (LEI 40% / WPI 16%): $76,502
• Poor result (LEI 50% / WPI 20%): $95,627

These figures are the permanent-impairment lump sum only. Your overall outcome can also include:

• Weekly income payments (while you’re unfit for work)
• Medical, psychology and allied-health costs
• Rehabilitation and return-to-work support
• Potential common law damages if you qualify

Amounts index each 1 July. Exact entitlements depend on your assessment, medical evidence, time off work, and job demands.

This provides some idea about the contribution to the average worker’s comp settlement for knee replacement procedures. To get the best workers to comp payout for knee surgery procedures injured workers should ensure that they should consult a personal injury lawyer to find out the worker’s compensation settlement amounts for knee surgery procedures. If you have had a total knee replacement, as with other knee injuries it is definitely worth getting a proper whole person impairment assessment before agreeing to a total knee replacement workers comp settlement figure.

For more details about knee injury settlement workers compensation claim payouts contact Foyle Legal for your obligation-free claim review. In most cases, we can quickly estimate how much compensation for a knee injury at work is worth based on our past experience in similar cases.

Don’t ignore your knee pain after a motor vehicle accident. If you have suffered a knee injury from car accident, you should report your knee accident injury to your GP and record your injuries as soon as possible to put yourself in the best position to obtain the best knee injury car accident settlement amount. We see many people get their compensation reduced because they fail to report all knee ankle foot pain and other delayed symptoms to a GP.

The process for claiming compensation for knee injury from a car accident is the same as other types of car injury claims. The key to getting a better compensation payout is to ensure that you assess all your injuries and future losses as a whole which includes individual injuries such as the knee, ankle, neck, back, shoulder, foot, etc.

For see more details advice on what to do after a car accident injury, to make sure you are best positioned for future motor vehicle injury claims.

It is highly recommended that you seek legal advice for your car accident injury claim to ensure you get fair compensation for all your injuries.

In a car accident involving front and back collisions, a car accident knee hit dashboard is common and the knee can suffer a range of injuries. Other common knee injuries from car accidents incur injuries to the knees of drivers and passengers when vehicles are impacted from the side.

Knee injuries from falling may result in workers comp claims, public liability claims, and other negligence-related claims. If you are seeking compensation for knee injuries from falling in a public place, please call the public liability lawyers at Foyle Legal to get your obligation-free review. We will be able to help you to determine what is the most effective way to get compensation for your knee injuries.

We have seemed many injured people overlooked the impact of minor injuries. They don’t see a GP, and they don’t report it, thinking it’s not a big deal. The reality is, not many symptom surfaces immediately, and once they do show, they can often cause secondary injuries as the body is trying to compensate for your injury.

Don’t ignore a simple slip and fall injury, the impact on you could vary largely.

• In a minor slip and fall public liability claim, although the average settlement for slip and fall knee injuries may not be significant, it is still important to recover all associated current and potential future costs and losses.
• Nerve damage in knee after a fall is not a common situation but when they occur, injury people should consider attending an orthopaedic surgeon to see whether they can improve their situation following the knee injury. Depending on the costs of surgery, you may be looking at significant compensation for medical treatment.
• In general, knee replacement settlement amounts are generally higher as the injured person has undergone an invasive procedure and is likely to require revision operations in the future.