Personal Injury Lawyer in Claremont, WA

Soul Legal Has Recovered Millions in Claims for Western Australians

Injured in Claremont? Start here.

Soul Legal is a Perth personal injury firm whose directors have run Western Australian compensation claims since 1991. If you were hurt in a Stirling Highway crash, injured at work, tripped at Claremont Quarter, or harmed during treatment at a local hospital, you can claim on a No Win No Fee basis and your first consultation is free. Most WA claims settle in 9 to 18 months without a court hearing. Motor injuries run through the Insurance Commission of WA (ICWA); workplace injuries run through WorkCover WA, where two 2026 changes now affect how much you keep and when you get it. Call (08) 6558 1786 for an assessment within 24 hours. The firm works from Perth CBD, about 15 minutes from Claremont, and visits clients who cannot travel.

Director Kevin Wong has represented injured Western Australians since 1991. He has run claims from minor whiplash to multi-million dollar catastrophic awards, and he has appeared at WorkCover, the District Court, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Supreme Court of WA, and the High Court of Australia. He was the instructing solicitor in De Sales v Ingrilli [2002] HCA 52, the case that abolished the old “chance of remarriage” discount for widows in dependency claims, and he was co-counsel in Westrupp v BIS Industries [2015] FCAFC 173, which confirmed workers compensation cover for FIFO workers. That is appellate courtroom history, and it is the kind of capability standing behind your claim when an insurer refuses to move.

Director Rebecca Sorgiovanni has practised since 1997. She built her own firm, Sorgiovanni Legal, to represent injured local government workers before co-founding Soul Legal with Kevin in 2018. She is an accredited alternative dispute resolution practitioner and a registered mediator, and she has appeared everywhere from the Fair Work Commission to the Court of Appeal. Between them, Kevin and Rebecca have handled thousands of WA claims. When you engage Soul Legal, a director runs your matter. You are not handed to a graduate for the parts that decide what you receive.

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PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM

Were you injured in a public place due to unsafe conditions or a faulty product? You may be able to bring a personal injury claim. Compensation can assist with medical costs, lost income and other expenses resulting from your injury.

WORKERS COMPENSATION CLAIM

If you have been injured at work or while travelling between job sites, you may be eligible to lodge a workers’ compensation claim. Compensation may be available for medical treatment, lost wages and other related costs.

CAR ACCIDENT CLAIM

Have you been injured in a car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle or quad bike accident? You may be entitled to make a compensation claim for your injuries and losses. Eligibility depends on the circumstances of the accident and who was at fault.

What changed in 2026, and why it matters for your Claremont claim

Two changes to the WA system landed in the last twelve months, and most injured people have not heard about either one yet. Both change the numbers on your claim.

The first is tax. In a class ruling issued in 2025 (ATO Class Ruling CR 2025/88), the Australian Taxation Office confirmed how a WorkCover WA settlement is taxed once it is registered under the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023. The income compensation part, the money that stands in for lost wages, is treated as ordinary assessable income. You declare it in the tax year you receive the lump sum. The medical and health expenses part, workplace rehabilitation, permanent impairment compensation, and dust disease impairment compensation are generally not assessable. The catch sits in the timing. If a single lump sum rolls up two or three years of income compensation, it can land in one tax year and push you into a higher bracket than the wages it replaced ever would have. How your settlement is broken down, and when it is paid, now affects what you actually keep. Structured with the tax in mind, it holds on to money a rushed settlement would hand straight to the ATO.

The second is timing on permanent impairment. From 1 July 2026, WorkCover WA‘s second edition Permanent Impairment Guidelines took effect. The practical change: if your condition has not stabilised eighteen months after the injury, a special assessment can now be authorised, so you can reach permanent impairment compensation sooner instead of waiting indefinitely for the injury to settle. There is a trade-off written into the rule. The assessor must rate you on how you present on the day of the assessment. Future surgery, expected recovery, and possible deterioration are all excluded from the rating. Go too early and a condition that is still getting worse may be scored below where it will end up. Timing the assessment is now a live decision, and it is one you want a lawyer weighing before you book it, not after.

Underneath both changes, the scheme is carrying more pressure than most people expect. WorkCover WA’s 2024/25 figures record about 29,300 claims and roughly $1.645 billion paid across the scheme. Return to work within three months sat at 73.9 percent, down on recent years, and long-duration claims stayed high. From 1 July 2026 the recommended average premium rate rose to 1.931 percent of wages, up from 1.823 percent, a 5.9 percent increase that tells you insurers expect claims to keep costing more. None of this sets the value of your claim. It tells you the system is slower and more contested than it was, which is exactly when going in without a lawyer costs the most.

What changed	When	What it means for you
Workers comp settlement tax (ATO CR 2025/88)	Ruling issued 2025	Income-replacement part of a WorkCover settlement is taxed as ordinary income in the year paid; medical, rehab and permanent-impairment parts generally are not. Settlement structure and timing now affect your after-tax result.
Permanent Impairment Guidelines, 2nd edition	Effective 1 July 2026	Special assessment available if your condition has not stabilised after 18 months. Rating is fixed on your presentation on the assessment day, so assessment timing matters.
Scheme cost and premium	2024/25 data; premium from 1 July 2026	73.9% return-to-work at 3 months, ~$1.645B paid, average premium up 5.9%. A slower, more contested system rewards early legal advice.

Every one of these figures comes from the ATO, WorkCover WA, or ICWA. Ask any firm you are considering to explain what these mean for your claim. If they cannot, keep looking.

Personal injury claims Soul Legal handles for Claremont residents

Soul Legal runs every category of WA compensation claim. The common ones for Claremont come from the road, the workplace, and public spaces, and each runs on a different system with a different clock.

Workers’ Compensation Claims

If you were injured at work or made ill by your job, you are likely entitled to workers compensation under WA’s no-fault scheme, whether you are full-time, part-time, casual, or in some cases a contractor. You do not have to prove your employer did anything wrong. Soul Legal lodges your claim with WorkCover WA, challenges rejected or underpaid claims, and where a serious injury was caused by employer negligence, pursues an additional common law claim through the District Court. The 2026 changes to settlement tax and permanent impairment timing both live inside this scheme, and both are handled as part of running your claim, not as an afterthought once the offer is on the table.

Motor Vehicle Accident Claims

Whether you were a driver, passenger, cyclist, motorcyclist, or pedestrian, you can claim after a WA road crash through ICWA under the compulsory third party scheme, even if you were partly at fault. Claremont’s road risk is concentrated on Stirling Highway. It runs the length of the suburb as an undivided four-lane road at 60 km/h, no central median, carrying Perth-to-Fremantle traffic past shopfronts, schools, and the Bay Road and Queenslea Drive intersections. Undivided arterials like this produce head-on and turning crashes that quieter suburban streets do not. Soul Legal’s car accident lawyers run the entire ICWA process for you, from the crash report and Notice of Intention to Make a Claim through to settlement, and pursue treatment costs, lost income, care, and pain and suffering.

Public Liability Claims

If you were hurt by an unsafe condition on public or private property, you may have a claim against the occupier under the Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA). Claremont concentrates foot traffic in a few places: Claremont Quarter and the Bay View Terrace retail strip, the Claremont railway station precinct, and the Claremont Showground during the Perth Royal Show, when a normally quiet ground takes crowd-scale numbers for a week. Slips, trips, falls from poorly maintained surfaces, and falling objects are the usual causes. Soul Legal knows the WA public liability claim process and holds negligent owners and occupiers to account so you do not have to deal with their insurers.

Medical Negligence Claims

When a healthcare provider breaches its duty of care and you are harmed, you may have a medical negligence claim. Claremont sits inside a dense medical catchment, with Bethesda Hospital on Queenslea Drive and specialist rooms through the western suburbs feeding into the major teaching hospitals nearby. These claims turn on expert evidence and are among the hardest to run. Soul Legal takes on surgical error, misdiagnosis, delayed treatment, and medication mistakes, and is honest early about which cases have the evidence to succeed.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Victims of assault, sexual abuse, and other offences can claim through WA’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, including many historical abuse claims after legislative reform widened access. Kevin Wong has represented crime victims through the District Court and beyond. These matters are handled with care and privacy from the first call.

Dog Attack Compensation

Under the Dog Act 1976 (WA), owners face strict liability for injuries their dogs cause. If you were bitten or attacked in Claremont or anywhere in WA, you may be able to claim, often against the owner’s home insurance. Soul Legal has run these claims and knows how the cover responds.

No Win, No Fee. Your first consultation is free.

*At Soul Legal we only charge fees in personal injury claims if you are successful settling your claim or have a successful judgment (excluding disbursements). A Defendant may be able to claim costs against you if successful in defending an action brought by you

How Soul Legal manages your Claremont personal injury claim

Soul Legal runs every claim through the same five stages, from your first free assessment to final payment. Most claims settle in negotiation without a court hearing, and the firm handles all contact with insurers and opposing parties.

Stage 1: Free claim review

Call (08) 6558 1786 or send an online enquiry. A senior lawyer reviews your situation, reads any documents you have, and tells you plainly whether you have a viable claim. Free, confidential, no obligation. If you are in Claremont and cannot travel, the firm comes to you.

Stage 2: Building your case

Once you engage, your lawyer gathers the evidence: medical records, specialist reports, witness statements, scene documentation, and material from insurers or employers. Soul Legal carries this load so you can focus on recovery.

Stage 3: Lodging your claim

Your lawyer lodges with the right body, ICWA for motor injuries, WorkCover WA for workplace injuries, or the relevant court for a negligence claim, and manages every deadline and form.

Stage 4: Negotiation

Soul Legal negotiates directly with insurers. Kevin and Rebecca do not accept inadequate offers, and many claims resolve at a pre-trial conference. Where the 2026 settlement-tax rules apply, the structure of the offer is worked through here, before you sign, not after.

Stage 5: Resolution and payment

Once a fair outcome is reached, your compensation is paid. If an insurer refuses a reasonable offer, Soul Legal is prepared to run the case to trial. Kevin has taken matters to the Supreme Court and High Court, and that willingness is part of what protects your position.

Your personal injury rights under Western Australian law

WA law gives you more than one route to compensation, and which one applies depends on how and where you were hurt. The legislation that governs a Claremont claim includes the Limitation Act 2005, the Motor Vehicle (Third Party Insurance) Act 1943, the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023, and the Civil Liability Act 2002. Getting the claim lodged correctly and on time is the part people most often get wrong on their own.

Strict time limits apply

Under the Limitation Act 2005 (WA) you generally have three years from when you became aware of your injury to start court proceedings. For children under 15 the deadline extends to six years. For a motor injury, the online crash report and the Notice of Intention to Make a Claim are expected with ICWA within six months of the crash, though a late notice is not automatically fatal, because ICWA has to show it was prejudiced to defeat the claim. Miss the wrong deadline and a good claim can be barred permanently.

Workers compensation is no-fault, with a common law door for serious injury

You get weekly income payments, medical cover, and rehabilitation simply by showing the injury happened through your work. Where employer negligence caused a serious injury, assessed at 15 percent or more whole person impairment, you can also pursue a common law claim for pain and suffering and future loss through the District Court. The 2026 permanent impairment timing rule matters here, because reaching that assessment is often the gateway to the larger claim.

Insurers are not on your side

Insurers run experienced claims teams whose job is to close your file for as little as possible. A lawyer who knows their playbook levels the field, and makes sure no entitlement is missed and no deadline is dropped.

Soul Legal serves Claremont and Perth’s western suburbs

Soul Legal acts for injured residents across Claremont and the surrounding western suburbs, including Nedlands, Cottesloe, Swanbourne, Mount Claremont, Dalkeith, Peppermint Grove, Mosman Park, Karrakatta, Shenton Park, and Subiaco. The Perth CBD office at Suite 2/22 St Georges Terrace is about fifteen minutes from Claremont along Stirling Highway, and the firm keeps a second office in Baldivis. Home and hospital visits are available for injured clients who cannot travel. Soul Legal also runs claims for residents of nearby Applecross and West Perth.

Claremont is not a heavy-industry suburb, so its injury profile looks different from Perth’s outer working areas. The claims that come out of the western suburbs cluster around the road, retail and hospitality workplaces, professional and healthcare settings, and public spaces that draw crowds, with Stirling Highway and event days at the Showground doing more than their share. Wherever your injury happened, at a local worksite, on the highway, in a shopping centre, or anywhere else in WA, the firm has run the claim before.

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Frequently asked questions about personal injury claims in Claremont, WA

Do I need to travel to a lawyer, or can Soul Legal come to me in Claremont?

Both work. The Perth CBD office is about fifteen minutes from Claremont along Stirling Highway, and the firm offers home and hospital visits across the western suburbs if your injury stops you travelling. The first consultation is free either way, and you can send documents through an upload link before you meet.

Where do most Claremont injury claims come from?

The road, workplaces, and public spaces. Stirling Highway is the suburb’s main crash corridor as an undivided arterial carrying heavy Perth-to-Fremantle traffic. Retail and hospitality sites like Claremont Quarter and Bay View Terrace, the station precinct, and event days at the Claremont Showground generate the public liability claims. Workplace claims come from the offices, healthcare, and service jobs that dominate the western suburbs.

How does the 2026 workers compensation settlement tax change affect me?

Since ATO Class Ruling CR 2025/88, the income-replacement part of a WorkCover WA settlement is treated as ordinary income and taxed in the year you receive it, while the medical, rehabilitation, and permanent impairment parts generally are not. A lump sum can compress several years of income into one tax year and lift your bracket, so how the settlement is structured and timed affects what you keep. Soul Legal works this through before you sign.

How much does a personal injury lawyer in Claremont cost?

Nothing upfront and nothing at all unless you win. Soul Legal runs personal injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis, and on a successful claim recovers most of its costs from the insurer as party-and-party costs. The first consultation is free. Disbursements are separate and explained upfront.

How long does a personal injury claim take to settle in WA?

Most WA claims settle in 9 to 18 months. Serious-injury claims often wait until the injury stabilises before settling, which can take a year or more, and the 2026 permanent impairment rule now allows a special assessment at eighteen months if your condition has not settled by then. Motor and workers compensation claims run on different clocks, and your lawyer will map yours at the first meeting.

Can I still claim if the accident was partly my fault?

Usually yes. WA motor injury claims can proceed even if you were partly at fault, with compensation adjusted for your share of responsibility. Workers compensation is no-fault, so fault does not bar the claim at all. Do not assume you have no claim because you think you contributed.

What is the time limit for making a personal injury claim in WA?

Generally three years from when you became aware of the injury under the Limitation Act 2005, and six years for children under 15. Motor injury notices to ICWA are expected within six months of the crash. Because missing a deadline can end a claim, the safest step is to get advice early rather than risk it.

NO WIN – NO FEE*

Your first consultation is free.

If you are not sure which claim applies, or how the 2026 changes affect yours, call Soul Legal and get your Claremont injury case assessed for free within 24 hours.

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