Injury Lawyers Since 1984
MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT LAWYER
We know there is nothing more important to you or to your family after an accident than recovering from your injuries as completely and quickly as possible.
Our main role is to help you navigate the legal system, aggressively advocate on your behalf, and help secure the resources you need to recover. We fully support your recovery and your return to your quality of life, and will fight to protect you and your future.
In our 40 years devoted to personal injury law, we have come to know the most effective rehabilitation teams in York Region and GTA, and will introduce you to the case managers, rehabilitation support workers, cognitive and behavioural therapists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists, that will become instrumental to you achieving your recovery goals. Contact us today to arrange for a free consultation to hear more about how Boland Romaine can help.
Anyone injured in a motor vehicle accident in Ontario should seek immediate medical attention for their injuries. It is important that you attend the hospital or see your family doctor about any injuries you have suffered as soon as possible, as receiving medical attention in the acute phase of the injury is an important part of the diagnosis and recovery process.
Ontario law requires you to report the accident to your own insurance company within seven days of the accident. Reporting the accident will start the process for your claim for accident benefits to fund your medical treatment.
Gathering evidence about your motor vehicle accident is an important step after being involved in a motor vehicle accident. To best preserve evidence and start the investigation, you should consult a personal injury lawyer that specializes in motor vehicle accident cases to help protect your rights. A motor vehicle accident lawyer can assist you with gathering the police file, locating the information about the other driver, speaking with independent witnesses, and considering whether accident reconstructionist engineers are necessary for a potential claim.
After a car accident your and your family’s first priority is your health. However, there are statutory provisions which require the injured person to provide a written notice, within days of the accident, if they intend to proceed with a claim against municipalities. You do not wish to miss a deadline which could affect your right to sue and recover the compensation you deserve.
Second, it is important to access and preserve important evidence about how the motor vehicle accident occurred. The motor vehicles should be inspected before the insurance company sends it for salvage and the accident scene should be investigated for physical evidence, like gouge marks and skid marks, and road design flaws.
Third, innocent victims involved in motor vehicle accidents often must sue or file claims for compensation against an insurance company. Insurance companies are focused on reducing how much they pay out in claims. Insurance companies hire specialized claims adjusters or defence lawyers that often try to settle claims quickly for small amounts or deny compensation entirely. It is important you speak with a motor vehicle accident lawyer immediately to help understand what your claim is truly worth and to protect your rights to compensation.
You are required to bring any lawsuit arising from a motor vehicle accident in Ontario within two years of the date of your accident. This is known as the limitations period. This is a hard deadline, with very limited exceptions, and failure to start a lawsuit within two years of your motor vehicle accident may bar you from seeking your maximum compensation. To allow enough time to investigate the circumstances of the accident, draft a statement of claim, and have your claim issued by the Court, you should contact a personal injury lawyer as soon after your accident as possible.
Boland Romaine frequently meets with individuals seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents in hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, or at their home in order to best meet their needs. This can be done during our initial free consultation or throughout the life of your claim. We will meet with you, discuss your claim with you, and prepare the necessary documentation to start your claim. If you have been seriously hurt in a motor vehicle accident, we encourage you to call our office today and arrange for a free consultation to discuss your rights and what compensation you may be owed.
Putting your future into the hands of a personal injury lawyer is one of the most important decisions you will make after you have suffered serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident. Motor vehicle accidents require highly skilled and experienced personal injury lawyers who have devoted their practice exclusively to representing individuals who have been seriously injured.
Boland Romaine has specialized in motor vehicle accident and personal injury law for 40 years and has helped thousands of innocent injured accident victims and their families across the GTA and Ontario recover millions of dollars in compensation. We are proud of our ability to take to trial those cases where insurance companies wrongly fail to fairly compensate accident victims, and to leverage our success to maximize settlements.
The most important factor in your decision to choose a motor vehicle accident lawyer is the lawyer’s trial experience. Why? Because you need a personal injury lawyer who has the courage to say “no” to unreasonable offers, and the commitment and skill to take your case to trial to fight for fair compensation. Click here to read what Justice Quinn of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has said about lawyers that do not regularly take cases to trial.
Insurance companies know which lawyers go to trial for their injured clients and which ones don’t. Boland Romaine’s extensive and successful trial record discourages discounted offers and informs the insurance company that their risk of going to trial is real. This helps us achieve maximum compensation on your behalf when we settle your claims. The end result? The vast majority of motor vehicle accident cases at Boland Romaine (over 95%) settle for maximum compensation without ever going to trial.
At Boland Romaine, our strong trial record will increase the value of your claim and improve the prospect of a fair settlement without having to go to trial. Click here to see a sampling our successful trial verdicts and review Boland Romaine’s Trial Report Card.
At Boland Romaine, we have won motor vehicle accident trials for those who have suffered:
At Boland Romaine, we have won complicated motor vehicle liability trials involving:
Yes. Whether you should sue another driver and your entitlement to recover the damages in a tort claim as outlined below depends on whether your injuries were caused by the other driver’s negligence. Our objective is to demonstrate that the other driver is 100% at fault so you receive full compensation for your injuries. However, liability and fault for a motor vehicle accident may be apportioned between you and another driver. This is important because your entitlement to compensation is reduced by the degree of your fault.
Our office will obtain all appropriate liability documentation including the investigating police officer’s accident report, field notes, accident reconstruction reports, statements of involved drivers, independent witness statements, driver record searches, corporate searches, weather records etc. We may also retain the services of various experts such as forensic engineers, environmental experts and human factors experts to prove that the other driver was 100% at fault.
Regardless of whether you are fault for your motor vehicle accident, you may still be entitled to compensation from your own auto insurance company through an accident benefits claim, as outlined below. Click here to learn more about your entitlements under a claim for accident benefits.
It is worth fighting for. A personal injury lawsuit attempts to restore you to the financial position you would have been in had the motor vehicle accident not happened. For those with significant losses of income or new lifelong expenses, a personal injury lawsuit is your only means to protect your future and replace what you have lost.
Evaluating a personal injury claim following a motor vehicle accident involves making informed predictions about how a judge or jury would decide the lawsuit at a trial. For this reason, seriously injured motorists should consult with personal injury lawyers that specialize in motor vehicle accident litigation and that have a proven track record of success at trial. Click here to learn about Boland Romaine’s successful outcomes at trial involving motor vehicle accidents.
As we proceed with your case, we will periodically provide you with detailed explanations concerning how your claims will be assessed. The Ontario Courts have provided us with some direction in order to assist in the fair and proper assessment various injuries we will discuss with you at the appropriate time the various ranges for compensation.
Boland Romaine has over 40 years experience conducting motor vehicle accident trials and leveraging that experience to maximize compensation for clients.
The legislation that governs motor vehicle accident claims allows for recovery of compensation from the at-fault driver’s insurance company (the tort claim) and from your own insurance company (the no-fault accident benefits claim).
What is a tort claim?
In the tort claim, you seek compensation from the at -fault driver by commencing a civil lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Depending on the severity of your injuries, there are a number of categories of damages which you may be able to recover from the negligent defendant driver in the tort claim. You will be entitled to general damages which compensate you for your pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. We will look at the nature and severity of your injuries, the pain and suffering that you have and will endure, the treatment that you have and will undergo, and how your accident-related symptoms interfere with your enjoyment of life, including interacting with family members, recreational, social and work activities.
You will also be entitled to claim for past and future loss of income if you have been seriously hurt in a motor vehicle accident and are unable to return to work. We will obtain employment records and income tax records to demonstrate your pre-accident earning potential, the shortfall in your earnings and how your ongoing symptoms will interfere with or prevent your ability to work in the future. If you have long-term disability coverage, you may be entitled to claim long-term disability directly from your insurance company. Click here to learn more about your rights to long-term disability insurance.
You will also be entitled to compensation for all out-of-pocket expenses and future care claims which will include healthcare expenses not covered under OHIP, such as physiotherapy, massage therapy, psychological counselling, and prescription medication. You may also claim for services which you will require to replace what you can no longer do, such as housekeeping and home maintenance.
There are some restrictions on your right to sue for pain and suffering damages. Before you can successfully sue for pain and suffering damages, you must prove that your injuries “meet the threshold”. This can only be done if you can show that you have sustained permanent and serious injuries. In addition, there is a statutory deductible that increases annually which may apply to your claim depending on the severity of your injuries and the compensation awarded to you.
What Is An Accident Benefits Claim?
With respect to the no-fault accident benefit claim, every motor vehicle insurance policy contains mandatory no-fault accident benefits coverage that is provided by your auto insurance company. You are entitled to these accident benefits from your own auto insurance company regardless of who was to blame for the collision, and regardless of the seriousness of your injuries.
Accident benefit claims provide funding for loss of income (income replacement benefits), treatment and medication through medical and rehabilitation benefits, attendant care, housekeeping and home maintenance and other miscellaneous expenses, such as visitor expenses, caretaking expenses, and death benefits. Your auto insurance company will retain an adjuster who will actively scrutinize the benefits you apply for and may deny portions of your claim. Click here to learn more about what compensation you may be owed under a claim for accident benefits.
Insurance companies are businesses and like any business they seek to maximize their profits. As a result, it is the objective of your insurance company to pay out as little as possible when resolving claims. At Boland Romaine LLP, we have over 40 years experience and have helped thousands of clients across the GTA and Ontario ensure that full funding is obtained from their insurance company to assist in recovery.
Yes. The legislation which governs motor vehicle accidents in Ontario provides that certain family members are entitled to bring claims for accident benefits or sue other drivers when a member of the family is seriously injured or sustained fatal injuries in a motor vehicle accident.
Eligible family members are entitled to claim compensation for their loss of income, loss of guidance, care and companionship, out-of-pocket expenses and for the value of nursing, housekeeping and other services performed for the injured person, as both part of an accident benefits claim against their own auto insurance company and a tort claim against a negligent at-fault driver.
For 40 years, Boland Romaine has represented family members of those who have suffered serious injuries or were killed in a motor vehicle accident as a result of the negligence of other drivers. If you or a family member has been seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident in the GTA or Ontario, we encourage you to call us.
Boland Romaine will work hard for you to the very end however long or far you want to take the claim, whether through negotiation, mediation, or fighting on your behalf at trial. We focus on quality legal representation over quantity, and spend the necessary time and resources to build our client’s claims to get them the maximum compensation.
Predicting the length of a claim depends on a number of factors, including how many people were involved in the motor vehicle accident, the evidence of what caused the accident, the number and severity of the injuries, your rate of recovery, as well as the ability of medical doctors to accurately predict the long-term prognosis of your injuries, and the status of the courts. As a result, some personal injury cases may take several years to be finalized.
Even though the law requires that you wear a seatbelt, you can still claim accident benefits and sue another driver even if you were not wearing a seatbelt.
Whether or not you were wearing a seatbelt at the time of the motor vehicle accident does not affect your eligibility to claim accident benefits from your own auto insurance company. You may claim accident benefits regardless of how the motor vehicle accident happened or if anyone in your vehicle, including yourself, was wearing a seatbelt.
While failing to wear a seatbelt does not preclude you from starting a tort claim against another driver, it may impact the amount of compensation you can recover. Not wearing a seatbelt does not excuse another driver from causing you harm and has little impact on what caused the motor vehicle accident. However, the defendant in a tort claim may argue that that your injuries may have been different or less significant had you worn your seatbelt.
In the Ontario Court of Appeal decision of Snushall v. Fulsang, Ontario’s highest court decided that the most that could be deducted from a claim where a seatbelt would have saved the injured person from all of their injuries was 25%, and that by convention, a reduction of 5% – 10% in the value of the claim would be typical.
Overall, the value of your motor vehicle accident claim will only be reduced if the tort defendant can prove that wearing a seatbelt would have prevented or minimized your injuries. If you or a family member have been seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident and were not wearing a seatbelt, you need to speak to a skilled and experienced personal injury lawyer that has experience handling complex liability cases and who can properly advance your claim to maximize compensation.
If you were the passenger of a motor vehicle driven by a friend or family member and have suffered significant injuries, you can pursue accident benefits claim from your own auto insurance company or the auto insurance company of the owner of the vehicle. You may also have a tort claim against the friend or family member that was driving.
We know it may be uncomfortable to think about suing a friend or family member after your motor vehicle accident. It is important to know that it will be the auto insurance company of your friend or family member, and not them personally, that will end up paying you for your losses. Consider insurance as a benefit that a driver provides to those who use the roadway and are injured by their actions.
If you find yourself in this situation, call us to speak about your options. Boland Romaine has dealt with these situations many times before and know how to best obtain the compensation you need while minimizing the impact on your friends or family members.
At Boland Romaine, we offer free initial consultations to discuss your rights and provide you with an opinion on whether your motor vehicle accident claim has merit.
If we decide that we can help you after your free consultation, we will enter into a contingency fee agreement (CFA) with you, which means there are no upfront legal fees and we only get paid fees if we are successful in settling your motor vehicle accident lawsuit or after we win your case at trial.
Disbursements consist of money that our firm spends during the processing of your claim for photographs, accident reconstruction reports, police reports, various searches, hospital records, medical reports, occupational therapy reports, rehabilitation/vocational reports, actuarial reports, economist reports etc. that may be required to prove liability and demonstrate the significance of your accident injuries and symptoms.
You do not have to pay for these disbursements. Boland Romaine will pay for all of these disbursements and only ask that we be reimbursed if there is a successful outcome with your case.
No. You have had a significant injury and your life has been radically disrupted. You will be working with a number of medical and rehabilitation professionals to assist you with what is most important, your recovery. Just as you have a healthcare team to assist you in getting better, at Boland Romaine we have a legal team whose main priority is to ensure that you are fully compensated while at the same time eliminating the stress and aggravation caused by dealing with your insurance company. We will complete all necessary paperwork, apply for all benefits that you are entitled to, and take all steps to prosecute your claims.
It depends. The Ontario law applicable to accident benefits is designed to provide some level of accident benefits to most individuals injured in a motor vehicle accident; however, uninsured drivers are prohibited under Ontario law from commencing a tort claim against another driver after a motor vehicle accident regardless of who was at fault.
If you were the passenger of a motor vehicle or were a pedestrian or cyclist struck by another motor vehicle, and do not have your own insurance policy, you can still apply for accident benefits to the auto insurance company that insured the driver of the vehicle involved in the motor vehicle accident. In those same scenarios, you may still pursue a tort claim against the other negligent driver. Click here to learn more about your rights to accident benefits, and here to learn more about your rights if you were a pedestrian or cyclist struck by a motor vehicle.
If you were the uninsured driver of a motor vehicle that is not covered by insurance, you are unable to claim income replacement benefits, non-earner benefits, among other benefits. Further, Ontario law bars uninsured motorists from commencing tort claims against other drivers, even if the uninsured motorist is not at fault for the accident.
In most tort claims involving motor vehicle accidents, the insurance company of the at-fault driver pays the trial verdict or settlement amount to the injured person, with the at-fault driver responsible for a small deductible that he or she must pay out of pocket.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, individuals in Ontario with auto insurance policies are equipped with the OPCF-44R: Family Protection Coverage Endorsement. The OPCF-44R provides protection to innocent accident victims injured as a result of an uninsured or underinsured motorist by substituting your own auto insurance company in place of the uninsured at-fault driver. This means that you are still entitled to full compensation regardless of whether the other driver has insurance.
Motor vehicle accidents involving unidentified motorists can be challenging to investigate and establish liability. Those seriously injured in “hit-and-run” type collisions do not have a defendant to name in a lawsuit and sue for compensation.
However, you are still entitled to claim $200,000 from your own auto insurance company. The vast majority of individuals are covered by a OPCF-44R: Family Protection Coverage Endorsement, which entitles them to amounts equal to the full policy limits.
To claim under the OPCF-44R, injured individuals must provide “other material evidence” of the role of the unidentified motorist in the motor vehicle accident. This may be shown through evidence from independent witnesses, or physical evidence of the motor vehicle accident, including skid marks on the road, damage to the vehicle, or accident reconstruction reports from expert engineers.
Yes. Commencing a lawsuit against the other driver you believe is at fault for your motor vehicle accident does not prevent them from also suing you. It is important that you report the motor vehicle accident to your own auto insurance company and tell them if you receive a Statement of Claim from the other driver. Your own auto insurance policy provides liability insurance coverage, which means that your own auto insurance company will hire a defence lawyer to defend you in any lawsuits brought against you arising from your motor vehicle accident. This defence lawyer will not be the same lawyer as your personal injury lawyer.
Yes. Regarding accident benefits, you can still claim some accident benefits if you were impaired by alcohol, cannabis, or other drugs. Unlike a tort claim, your ability to claim compensation under accident benefits is not tied to fault or responsibility for the motor vehicle accident. However, the legislation that governs Ontario accident benefits states that your insurance company is not obligated to pay certain benefits, such as income replacement benefits, non-earner benefits, or visitor expenses, if you were convicted a criminal offence, such as impaired driving, as a result of the motor vehicle accident. If you were an impaired passenger, cyclist, or pedestrian, the extent you were impaired by alcohol, cannabis, or drugs will not affect your rights to compensation under a claim for accident benefits, so long as you were not charged with a criminal offence as a result of the motor vehicle accident. Click here to learn more about what accident benefits you may claim if you were an impaired motorist.
Ontario law does not bar impaired drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, or passengers from commencing a tort claim arising from a motor vehicle accident simply because of their intoxication. In a motor vehicle accident tort claim, your level of intoxication will have an affect on your tort claim against another driver to the extent your level of impairment caused or contributed to the motor vehicle accident. For example, an injured person that drank alcohol or consumed cannabis may still be able to recover full compensation in a tort claim against another driver in a scenario where that another driver abruptly pulls their vehicle in front of the injured person’s vehicle, leaving the injured person without any means to take evasive measures to avoid a collision. In that scenario, the injured person’s impairment may have had nothing to do with how the accident occurred. However, in another scenario, an intoxicated pedestrian or cyclist that failed to safely navigate a crosswalk or exercise the proper right-of-way may be found to have contributed to the motor vehicle accident and a have a portion of their claim reduced accordingly.
Boland Romaine has extensive experience persuading judges and juries to award compensation for individuals seriously injured under circumstances where liability questions were complex.
You may have a claim against the municipality or region that has jurisdiction of the roadway where your motor vehicle accident occurred if you can establish that the accident was caused due to roadway design issues or improper winter maintenance.
Municipalities and regions across Ontario are responsible for ensuring that Ontario roadways and highways are kept safe, in good repair, maintained, and designed properly to keep users of the road safe and to avoid creating hazardous situations. Ontario law classifies roadways and highways across the province into different categories and requires that municipalities and regions ensure that the roadways be salted, sanded, and plowed at certain frequencies to maintain a set of minimum standards applicable to that particular category of roadway.
Boland Romaine has developed special expertise in motor vehicle accidents involving negligent municipalities or regions. In Wasylyk v Simcoe County, we were successful in obtaining a $16 million trial judgment on behalf of a severely brain injured motorist that lost control of her vehicle as a result of the County’s failure to comply with the minimum standards and keep the roadway free of winter hazards. In Roycroft v Kyte, we successfully obtained a $3.9 million trial judgment after proving that numerous roadway design deficiencies contributed to our client’s loss of control over the vehicle, including inadequate width, restricted sightlines, and steep downslope on the north side. We also demonstrated that the reduced speed limit sign was insufficient to warn motorists of the hill’s dangerous conditions. Immediately following the trial, the hill was flattened and made safer for the travelling public.
Establishing liability and against a municipality or region in Ontario can be very difficult, but is not an all or nothing proposition. Boland Romaine has successfully represented seriously injured individuals at trial where liability was established against a negligent driver as well as a municipality for their lack of maintenance of the road.
In Thornhill v. Shadid, we were successful in obtaining $1.8 million in damages for our client at trial by proving that the other driver involved in the accident was 50% liable to our client for driving at an excessive speed, and that the region in control of the roadway was 50% liable for failing properly treat the roadway for winter conditions. At trial, Boland Romaine established that the winter road maintenance records kept by the region were implausible after-the-fact reconstructions and exposed the flaws in gaps that existed in the Ontario regulations at the time. Our efforts included hiring an American scientist who developed Goodyear’s test track to testify and inform the Court about tire traction. Justice Howden’s decision became the precedent-setting decision for all winter road maintenance cases in Ontario. Click here to learn more about our municipal liability services or our Trial Report Card to learn more about some of our successes at trial.
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