Ottawa Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyers
Ottawa Motor Vehicle Accident Claims
Our largest area of practice in Ottawa, and Eastern Ontario cities such as Pembroke and Brockville, is motor vehicle accident cases. These sorts of claims include accidents involving cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, Ubers/Lyfts, and pedestrians.
If you’ve been injured in a motor vehicle accident, an injury lawyer will be your greatest tool in navigating the claims and legal processes that accompany motor vehicle accidents in Ottawa.
What Compensation and Benefits are Available?
If someone else was at fault for the accident, you are entitled to claim compensation for their negligence. Most drivers have at least one million dollars in liability coverage to respond to your claim. If the at-fault driver has less coverage than this, if your claim is worth more than one million dollars or if there are several people injured in the same accident (who would have to split the one million dollars), you may be able to recover additional damages through the OPCF-44R Family Protection coverage. This is insurance coverage purchased from your own insurance, which you can use to top up your damages when the at-fault driver has insufficient coverage.
Examples of the sorts of available compensation in negligence claims include damages for past and future income loss; pain and suffering; loss of housekeeping capacity; expenses for medical treatment and rehabilitation; past and future care needs; and claims by your own family members for the loss of your guidance, care and companionship.
With regard to claims for pain and suffering, accident victims must be aware that the Ontario Provincial Government has imposed a statutory deducible on your damages. This deductible is a deduction to your damages for pain and suffering, which is essentially a credit to the insurance company for the at-fault driver. As of 2021, the deductible is $39,754.31. It is indexed to inflation and therefore will increase each year. By way of application, if an Ontario accident victim proceeds to trial and a jury awards $35,000.00 in damages for pain and suffering, then the accident victim would receive nothing, as a result of the deductible. If your damages are valued at $50,000.00, then you would receive compensation of $10,245.69. For claims for pain and suffering over $132,513.28 (as of 2021 and also indexed for inflation), there is no deductible applied to claims for pain and suffering.
In addition to a claim against the negligent driver, you are entitled to “no-fault” accident benefits, called Statutory Accident Benefits, which are available even if you were the one at fault for the accident. Click the link in the prior sentence for a full explanation of the compensations for no-fault accidents which may be available to you.
Seek Help from an Experienced Ottawa Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyer
Once an insurance company becomes involved, they may want to meet with you and take a statement. This could be either the other driver’s insurance or even your own insurance company. In most cases, the insurance company will seek information that can be used against you to reduce the amount of damages or benefits they might have to pay. They may also want to settle your claim for as little as possible as early as possible.
To ensure your rights are protected it is important for you to hire a motor vehicle accident lawyer as soon after the accident as possible. In addition to protecting you from the insurance company and seeking maximum compensation for your injuries, your Ottawa personal injury lawyer will also make sure that you have access to all of the medical and rehabilitation treatment you need to help you on the road to recovery.
The motor vehicle accident lawyers at SG Injury Law have over 23 years of combined experience handling serious and catastrophic motor vehicle accident cases of all sorts. If you have been injured in a vehicle accident, contact us to discuss your case, without any fee involved and with no obligation. Call us at (613) 518-2416 or fill out our Case Form.