Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: February 21, 2009

Explaining No Fault Benefits for Car Accidents in Ontario

If you’ve been hurt or injured in a car accident in Ontario; there’s a complicated set of rules that you need to follow if you’re planning on making a claim for your injuries, lost wages, damages for pain & suffering or just getting the insurance company to fix your car. Keep in mind that insurance companies won’t pay for any of these things if you don’t report the accident. So if you plan on collecting from the insurance company, you will need to report the accident to them. If you don’t; you’re risking losing out on valuable benefits described in greater detail below; not to mention any monetary damages which you might be entitled to.

Ontario has what’s called a “no-fault” set of rules for car accidents. What this means is regardless whose fault the accident is, you’re entitled to a wide variety of benefits to assist you when you need it most. These benefits are generally paid for by your own car insurance company. If you didn’t have car insurance at the time of the accident, the Insurance Act provides a series of priority rules to set out who is responsible for paying for your benefits.

The benefits which are paid out under Ontario’s “no-fault” system are called “accident benefits”. Accident benefits are a wide variety of benefits which cover a wide variety of categories. These categories include such things as:

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Published on: January 3, 2009

How do lawyers’ fees work in personal injury claims?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

One of the first things I’m asked is how do my fees work in personal injury cases. This is particularly important to people after an accident when they aren’t working and aren’t earning any income as a result of their accident.

All lawyers have different fee structures. Some lawyers ask for money up front. Some lawyers charge their hourly rate as the case goes, and you if don’t pay that hourly rate, they won’t work. Some lawyers work on a contingency basis.

Contrary to popular belief, contingency fees are legal in Ontario. A contingency fee agreement means that the lawyer will not ask you for any fees until your case settles. Once the case settles, your lawyer will take a percentage of the award to account for their fees. The lawyer takes a big risk in this sort of agreement because they risk not getting paid at all if they can’t recover anything for your case. But, this agreement is particularly good for the client and their family, because they don’t have to worry about paying their lawyer or funding the costs of the case until the case is resolved. Personal injury lawyers understand that it can be very difficult for accident victims to fund their cases; which is why many personal injury lawyers have embraced contingency fee agreements for their clients. This is very important, because it gives people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford the cost of a lawyer, access to the courts and access to justice.

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Published on: January 3, 2009

Things to be careful of when pursuing your accident case

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

After you’ve been hurt of injured in an accident, there are a few important things to be certain of:

Consult a lawyer who concentrates in accident claims immediately. There is a limitation period in Ontario to sue. This limitation varies, depending on the facts of your case and the sort of accident. But, generally, you have 2 years to sue from the date of the accident. There are all sorts of other limitation periods which you need to be aware of, which is important to consult a lawyer immediately to ensure that your right to sue is protected.

See your family doctor immediately after the accident. Hospitals generally rush their patients out to make room for more patients because they’re so busy. Sometimes people are discharged from hospitals with poor follow up instructions or improper treatment or medications. See your family doctor. They know you best. If you don’t have a family doctor, ask around.

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Published on: January 3, 2009

Why do damage awards appear so much bigger in the United States than they are in Canada?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

In the American news we see that accident victims get awarded ridiculously high awards for seemingly small accidents. Who can forget the story of the person who was awarded $1 million dollars because his coffee was too hot. Or how about the $20 million dollar awards for the elderly couple who scratched their arm after they fell off their bicycles?

Many of these stories, are just that, false stories. But, it cannot be denied that awards for accident victims in the United States are higher than awards in Ontario and Canada. The reason for this is because the highest court of Canada, which is called the Supreme Court ruled in a series of 3 cases that damages for pain and suffering be capped at around 3.25 million dollars. What that means is no matter how much pain and suffering you’ve been through after an accident, you damages for pain and suffering will be capped.

In addition, in Ontario insurance companies have lobbied the government to skew the laws in favour of insurers. If you’ve been involved in a car accident, you need to show that your injuries are both “serious and permanent”. Serious means just that, the injury needs to be serious such that it effects your everyday life. And permanent means just that as well; your injuries need to last for the rest of your life. If your injuries really hurt for a few months, but then they go away completely afterwards, your injuries will not be permanent and you will not be able to sue for pain and suffering. This barrier to recovery is called the “threshold”. The threshold was established for the benefit of insurers to keep claims down. That way, the insurer would not have to pay out on every little claim made, because it would not meet the “threshold”. Also, insurance companies for have lobbied government such that the first $30,000 for each claim under $100,000 essentially vanishes in car accident claims. This is called the “deductible”. If your claim is over $100,000, the deductible does not apply. Both the threshold and the deductible work to reduce the amount of claims being made, and work to reduce the monetary damage award to accident victims.

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Published on: January 3, 2009

How does my car insurance work after I’ve been involved in a car accident?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Ontario Law requires that all car drivers carry valid automobile insurance. After you or a loved one have been involved in a car accident, you are required to report the accident to your insurance company, or to the insurance company of the driver who hit you, in the event that you were not driving at the time of the accident. In the event that you do not report the accident, you will not be entitled to what are called “accident benefits” and it may effect how much money you can recover if you chose to sue the driver who hit you.

After you’ve reported the accident to the insurance company, they will send you a package of forms. These forms are called “Accident Benefit” forms. These forms can be difficult to understand and to complete, particularly when English is not your first language. If the insurance company does not send you the forms, you can get them online at www.fsco.gov.on.ca.

The form which starts the whole process is called an “OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits”. This is exactly what it says it is. It’s an application form for accident benefits. You are required to fill out basic information about your name, age, address, how the accident happened, your injuries, details about your employment, and/or childcare requirements. By filling out this form, you are telling your insurance company that you are claiming accident benefits from them.

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