Car Accident Victims are Entitled to Benefits
for Personal Injuries
After the Crash…
In Toronto, there are thousands of car accidents
annually on the city’s congested streets.
The chances are that sooner or later you will become a car accident
victim yourself. It is important to know what to do – and to act quickly with that
knowledge.
You have exactly seven days to notify your insurer
that you were in an accident and intend to apply for accident benefits under
Ontario’s no-fault insurance legislation. But what benefits exactly do you
qualify for?
Let’s assume that your injuries – at least at the beginning
– seem relatively minor and you are only planning to seek benefits under the
Ontario Insurance Act. A full description of the benefits to which you are
entitled are available on the website of the The Insurance Bureau of Canada.
However, a thumbnail listing of benefits are:
- Income
replacement benefit. This allows for partial compensation for loss of
income if you are unable to go back to work as a result of an injury
sustained in an accident
- The Non-earner
Benefit provides for further compensation in the event that you can’t go
back to work and are prevented from carrying out your normal activities.
- Medical and
Rehabilitation Benefits pay for medical expenses that are not already
covered by a government or private plan, provided they are "reasonable and
necessary”.
- The Attendant
Care Benefit pays for an assistant with personal care activities.
- Other
expenses included are lost educational expenses, housekeeping costs, death
and funeral costs, and even the replacement of clothing lost or damaged in
the collision.
Hiring a Lawyer
A lawyer can take care of all your post-accident
benefits. In fact, hiring a personal injury lawyer should be the second thing
you do – The first should be to get immediate medical attention. Given that you
have exactly seven days to inform your insurer of your desire to seek benefits
under the Ontario Act, you must move quickly.
It is important that you talk to a lawyer before
your insurance adjuster because anything you say to the adjuster will go into
your file and affect your future accident claims, as well as any subsequent
tort action you may find advisable.
Don’t forget, insurance companies deal with cases
like yours all the time – but hopefully your involvement in a personal injury
claim will be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. You are not on equal footing
with your insurer, so you need a lawyer to protect your rights.
Things to Look for in a Personal injury Lawyer
Find an experienced personal injury law firm. The law
is simply too complex to expect a general practitioner to adequately press your
claim or claims. And don’t be daunted by the prospect of financial outlay in
pursuing your claim. Your lawyer should take your case on a contingency fee
basis – taking the fee out of the eventual settlement, at a percentage that you
have agreed upon at the commencement of proceedings. In other words, you should
never be out of pocket in the process.
Being a car accident victim is not one of life’s
happy events, obviously. However, engaging the services of a qualified personal
injury lawyer quickly should bring you both peace of mind and as successful an
outcome as possible for your benefits claim.