Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog

Car insurance is meant to compensate and protect drivers from any loss or damage arising in the use or operation of a motor vehicle. Typically, if you are an at fault driver in an accident, your car insurance will pick up the bill for the damage which ensued. Driving without insurance or driving an uninsured car is against the law. You will likely be fined for doing this.

But what happens in cases where two cars are involved in an accident and neither car or operators have car insurance? What happens to pedestrians who don't have a car and don't have insurance that are hit by cars without insurance? What happens to bicycle riders without car insurance who are struck by cars without car insurance? How do these accident victims get compensation for their injuries if there is no source of insurance to claim from?

The government of Ontario has set aside a fund of money to compensate accident victims without car insurance, who are struck by cars without car insurance. It's called the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund( http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/insurance/auto/mvacf/). It is meant to be a fund of last resort for accident victims who have been victimized by drivers operating their cars without insurance. The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund will compensate accident victims up to $200,000 in tort damages which include pain and suffering. They will also step in as a fund of last resort to pay accident benefits in the event there is no other source of insurance to claim such benefits.

There are many Ontario Court decisions citing examples where the Claims Fund is required to get involved, and where the Claims Fund does not have to get involved. Ontario Courts have held that the Claims Fund is a fund of LAST RESORT. There are cases whereby the insurer of a car that was not found to have any fault in an accident, was still required to pay out the damages for the ensuing accident, simply because they were involved in the accident in one way, shape or form; regardless of liability. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2009/2009canlii29207/2009canlii29207.html
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2007/2007onca659/2007onca659.html
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2001/2001canlii24003/2001canlii24003.html

These cases are confusing and they often involve complex sets of facts. Sorting out the insurance issues involving these cases takes time, and can take months, sometimes years to sort out. While it's unfortunate for the accident victim to have to wait for the insurance issues to be sorted out; it's a necessary and a very important step in the proceeding.

If you have any questions regarding the issues raised in this article, or your would like copies of some Ontario Court decisions where Judges have ordered production of Facebook or Myspace pages to insurers, please contact Brian Goldfinger or Goldfinger Personal Injury Law at 416-730-1777 or 1-877-730-1777 http://www.goldfingerlaw.com/If you've been hurt or injured in an accident, call Goldfinger Personal Injury Law today for your free consultation. DON'T PAY UNTIL YOUR CASE SETTLES!THIS ARTICLE IS NOT INTENTED TO BE RELIED UPON AS LEGAL ADVICE; NOR IS IT INTENDED TO CREATE A SOLICITOR-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.