Is Your Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Categorized As Catastrophic?

It’s important to understand that whether or not your claim can be categorized as catastrophic is something tremendously important. If you have been involved in a vehicle accident and you have had to sustain significant and serious injuries, your situation might truly seem as if it is catastrophic. However, when it comes to the legal stand point, the word “catastrophic” has a slightly different meaning.

In any case, it’s critical to understand that the legislation of Ontario sets specific meaning for this particular description and it serves the purpose of deciding how much coverage is provided by the insurance company.

Accident benefits without regards to who is at fault

The standard insurance policy which is enacted in the province of Ontario is going to provide you with accident benefits if you have sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident without any regard to who is the one at fault. They are defined by the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. This is exactly where you can actually find a rather complex definition of what a catastrophic injury is.

The injuries need to be particularly severe

This is one of the things which need to be accounted for. According to the actual legislation, in order for your claim to be perceived as catastrophic by definition, the injuries that you have had to sustain as a result of the accident need to be particularly severe.Typically, injuries are likely to be labeled as catastrophic if they include at least one or possibly more of the following:

·         Amputation of an arm or a leg

·         Any kind of impairing which causes the total as well as the permanent loss of use of a limb of this kind

·         Blindness in both of your eyes

·         Brain damage which ends up with a score of 9 or less according to the Glasgow Coma scale

·         55% impairment

·         Marked extreme impairment

As you can see, the injuries need really be severe in order for them to be classified and categorized as catastrophic. It’s also important to notice that these are not just painful and dramatic injuries – they are ones which are going to cause significant long-term and even permanent damages to the person who has had to sustain them. Some injuries are immediately documented while other internal injuries surface later on.

This is the main reason for which the law can’t stand by and allow slight compensation. The monetary allowance for injuries of the kind is significantly increased in order to meet the increasing demand of care and medical attention on behalf of the victim. Of course, in order to win monetary compensation of the kind, one would have to rely on a professional and experienced personal injury lawyer in Sudbury. It is important that they have dealt with similar cases in the past and understand how to draft and file a claim so that you get justice and maximum benefits.