If you are injured in a car accident, you are entitled to accident benefits from an automobile insurer. There are many types of these “no fault” accident benefits.   They include weekly disability benefits and medical/rehabilitation benefits.   Weekly disability benefits are available to you if you are unable to work or you are unable to carry a normal life because of your injuries.  Medical/rehabilitation benefits will cover the reasonable and necessary expenses for treatments, assistive devices, medication, counselling and home modifications.  These benefits are certainly helpful to car accident victims who may have financial difficulties because of their injuries and their inability to work.

If you are a driver or a passenger in a car involved in an accident, you are entitled to accident benefits. But do you have the right to accident benefits if you slip and fall right beside your car? What if you crash your bicycle after being cut off by a car?  There are many incidents where accident benefits must be paid to the injured victims.  Most injured victims may not know this.

Accident benefits are regulated by the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg 34/10. This regulation defines “accident” to mean an incident where the use of a car directly caused an injury or damage to eyewear, denture, hearing aid or other medical devices. This definition is somewhat vague. What does “use of a car” mean? What does “directly caused” mean?

The tribunal came up with a legal test to help determine if an incident should attract accident benefits.  Here is this test:

1. Did the incident arise out of the use or operation of a car?
2. Did the use or operation of the car cause the injury or damage?

If the answer to both questions is “yes”, accident benefits will be paid for this incident.

Slip and fall incidents while getting in or out of the car or falling close to the car have been considered a car accident.  A roller bladder that crashed as a result of being cut off by an unidentified car was entitled to accident benefits. Accident benefits were paid to a person injured when the hood of her car collapsed on her while she was refilling her windshield washer fluid.  A person seriously burnt while attempting to transfer a coffee cup from a drive-through window to the cup holder in her car was also entitled to accident benefits.

If you were injured and you are now wondering if you should be getting accident benefits from your automobile insurer, call our boutique personal injury firm Burn Tucker Lachaîne.  We will help you determine if you should apply for accident benefits and if so, how to get those benefits. The first meeting is always free. We can help you in English and in French.

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