Changes to accident benefits in Ontario may significantly reduce benefits

Accident victims in Ontario who suffer severe brain injuries or paralysis may find they no longer qualify for catastrophic coverage as the Ontario government looks to implement another round of cuts to auto insurance benefits, this time cutting coverage for devastating injuries.

"There's a really large concern about what injured persons are going to be able to access," says Maria Capulong with Carranza LLP in Toronto. "There were already changes made as of Sept. 1, 2010, and now we're looking at what appears to be another potential clawback on what injured people are going to be able to access.

"Whereas someone with non-catastrophic injuries has access to up to $100,000 limit on accident benefits that was scaled to $50,000 and now the definition of catastrophic is being narrowed and a lot of persons with serious injuries won't be able to meet that definition and will be capped at $50,000."

Capulong's firm was involved in the case of Aviva Canada Inc. v Pastore in which Anna Pastore suffered a several ankle injury in a car accident and also sustained serious psychological impairments, including a recognized pain disorder.