Ontario legal information · Ottawa and Eastern Ontario
What the page should help you decide
Somersall considered the legal position of the claimant's insurer in an uninsured-motorist action.2
The decision does not make every unidentified, underinsured or uninsured event the same; different endorsements and statutory routes may apply.
Keep the legal question, insurance route and next practical step distinct.
Legal question
A negligence claim still requires fault, causation and loss.
Coverage or process
The claimant's own insurer may participate under uninsured or optional underinsured protection.
Practical step
Coverage counsel may need to identify defendants, policy limits and procedural steps early.
Build the answer from records another person can check.
Driver and vehicle identity, plate and witness information.
Medical connection between impact and injury.
Losses within the potentially available limits.
Every policy, endorsement, denial and insurer notice.
Protect the next real date.
Late insurer notice can create avoidable coverage arguments.3
Unknown-driver cases may require especially prompt reporting and corroboration.
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.
- Locate all policies
- Distinguish uninsured from underinsured
- Give prompt notice
- Coordinate tort and coverage pleadings
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
- Somersall v. Friedman, 2002 SCC 59
The Supreme Court of Canada considered Ontario uninsured-motorist coverage and insurer participation.
Back to footnote ↑ - Ontario — Insurance Act
Ontario's automobile insurance, tort-threshold and uninsured-automobile framework.
Back to footnote ↑ - Ontario — Rules of Civil Procedure
Current rules for civil proceedings and evidence-related steps.
Back to footnote ↑