Ontario legal information · Ottawa and Eastern Ontario
A serious diagnosis and a serious legal impairment are related but not identical.
Threshold evidence considers permanence, importance and seriousness of the affected physical, mental or psychological function. Treatment, prognosis and real life consequences should be developed over time.2
The deductible is a calculation rule applied to certain damages. The governing amount and any monetary threshold should be checked for the relevant year rather than copied from an old article.
Separate three questions in the damages analysis.
Threshold
Does the evidence meet the statutory test for non-pecuniary loss?
Valuation
What amount fairly reflects the injury under comparable Ontario decisions?
Deductible
What current statutory reduction, if any, applies to the award?
Threshold proof is functional and longitudinal.
Collect diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and permanence opinions.
Identify work, mobility, cognition, relationships and daily activities affected.
Use specific examples and reliable witnesses instead of general adjectives.
Check the accident, settlement or trial date rules with current legislation.
Do not force a permanence opinion before the medical course supports it.
Develop the record while treatment and recovery continue. A premature settlement can freeze uncertainty against the claimant.3
Settlement analysis should show the gross value, threshold risk, deductible, benefits and fees separately.
How a personal injury lawyer may help after this collision.
The lawyer's role should be tied to this accident: identify who may be responsible, find every policy that may respond, preserve evidence and build the claim around the person's actual recovery and loss.
- Identify the statutory test and current amounts
- Develop prognosis and important-function evidence
- Use comparable decisions carefully
- Explain settlement calculations transparently
Not every file requires every step or legal representation. The work should respond to the actual dispute, evidence gap or decision that is approaching.
Sources and legal references
These official sources provide the legal and procedural foundation for this page. Their current wording and the facts of the claim control.
View 3 sources
- Ontario — Insurance Act
Automobile coverage, statutory benefits, civil automobile claims and benefit disputes.
Back to footnote ↑ - Ontario — O. Reg. 461/96
Rules for Ontario automobile court proceedings, including the statutory threshold framework.
Back to footnote ↑ - Ontario — Limitations Act, 2002
The basic limitation and discoverability framework.
Back to footnote ↑