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ON · Law Society of Ontario
Injury claims in Ontario
Structure reviewed May 2026Two claims run in parallel — benefits from your own insurer, and a lawsuit that has to clear a legal threshold.
Every injured person in an Ontario motor-vehicle accident claims statutory accident benefits from their own insurer regardless of fault — treatment funding, income replacement, attendant care. Separately, a claim against the at-fault driver for pain and suffering must clear a statutory threshold of serious and permanent impairment, and awards are reduced by a statutory deductible that is re-indexed every January. Whether you clear the threshold is a medical-evidence question decided years later, which is exactly why the early treatment record matters so much.
Deadlines
Two years from discovery
The Limitations Act, 2002 sets a basic two-year period running from the day the claim was discovered — which is not always the day of the accident — with a fifteen-year ultimate bar. Minors and persons under disability are treated differently.
These are the ones that end otherwise strong claims, because they are measured in days or weeks rather than years.
- Auto insurer: notify within days of the accident and return the completed benefits application within a short fixed window, or benefits can be delayed or denied.
- Municipal road or sidewalk disrepair: written notice measured in days, not months, under the Municipal Act, 2001.
- Snow and ice on private premises: a written notice requirement under the Occupiers’ Liability Act that catches a large share of winter falls.
- Claims against the Crown, transit authorities and school boards carry their own notice regimes.
Matching in Ontario
What the match has to account for here
- Accident-benefits denials and tort claims are genuinely different practices. Some firms are formidable at one and thin at the other; a serious file usually needs both handled well.
- The Licence Appeal Tribunal is where denied benefits are fought. Tribunal volume is a measurable proxy we look at.
- Ontario is the most heavily advertised legal market in Canada. Marketing spend and case results are close to uncorrelated here.
Claim types in Ontario
Other provinces
InjuryLawyerNearMe.ca is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, legal opinions, or legal representation. We are an independent matching service. Nothing on this site creates a solicitor-client relationship. Deadlines and entitlements depend on facts we cannot assess from a web page — speak to a lawyer promptly. This page describes the general structure of Ontario law as reviewed in May 2026. It does not account for your facts, it is not a substitute for advice, and legislation changes. Statutory figures such as caps and deductibles are indexed and deliberately not reproduced here — confirm the current amounts with counsel.