Catastrophic and brain injury in Manitoba

Two years from discovery

Manitoba’s modern limitations statute uses a two-year discoverability period with a longer ultimate bar. PIPP review and appeal deadlines are much shorter and independent of it.

Not the same case twice

Catastrophic files are a different profession. The damages are built by life-care planners, occupational therapists, physiatrists, economists and vocational experts, and the firm’s real skill is knowing which experts are credible, ordering the right assessments in the right sequence, and funding all of it while the family has no income. Firms that run high-volume soft-tissue practices are not equipped for this, and the good ones will tell you so.

Whether a catastrophic designation is available

In provinces with a formal catastrophic impairment category, that designation unlocks dramatically higher benefit limits. Securing it is a technical, evidence-heavy application with its own timing.

Capacity and substitute decision-making

If the injured person cannot instruct counsel, someone must be appointed. That process runs alongside the claim and needs to be handled with dignity, not as paperwork.

Age at injury

A twenty-four-year-old and a sixty-four-year-old with identical injuries have completely different future-care and lost-earning-capacity claims, and need different expert teams.

Firm capital

A properly built catastrophic file costs six figures in disbursements before it resolves. Ask any firm directly whether they fund that themselves. Some borrow against your file at interest.

Home and family circumstances

Attendant care provided by a spouse or parent is compensable and routinely under-claimed because nobody kept records. It has to be set up correctly from week one.