Catastrophic Injury Lawyers in Ontario
In Ontario, a catastrophic impairment designation raises the combined medical, rehabilitation and attendant care limit from $65,000 to $1,000,000 and removes the time limit. Securing that designation is usually the single most valuable step in the claim.
Deadlines that apply to you
These are the dates that end claims. Check them first.
Tell your own auto insurer about the collision as soon as you reasonably can, and no later than seven days.
Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg. 34/10, s. 32(1)
Once the insurer sends you the application package, the completed application for accident benefits (the OCF-1) is due back within 30 days.
Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg. 34/10, s. 32(5)
In most Ontario claims you have two years from the day you knew, or ought to have known, that you had a claim.
Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B, s. 4
How this actually works
The gap between a catastrophic designation and a non-catastrophic one is the largest single number in Ontario accident benefits, and it is decided by an assessment process rather than by common sense.
Brain and spinal injuries, amputations, severe vision loss and certain combinations of physical and psychological impairment can qualify. The criteria are technical, the assessment timing matters, and insurers dispute these determinations because of what turns on them.
These claims also need a life care plan built early, because the cost of care over forty years is not something that can be reconstructed at the end.
Get the designation assessed properly
By assessors who work in the specific impairment, at the right point in recovery. Applying too early can produce a result that understates a permanent picture.
Open the full benefit limit
The designation unlocks a far higher combined limit with no time restriction, which changes what treatment and attendant care can be funded.
Build the life care plan
Housing modification, attendant care, equipment replacement cycles, therapy over decades. Costed by people who do this work, not estimated.
Run the tort claim alongside
Benefits fund care. The claim against the person at fault addresses the rest, including future income loss and the family's own claims.
Ontario changed accident benefits on July 1, 2026
- Medical, rehabilitation and attendant care remain mandatory on every policy.
- Income replacement, non-earner and caregiver benefits are now optional coverage you have to buy.
- Auto insurance now pays first for medical and rehabilitation costs, ahead of an extended health plan. Medication is the exception.
- Someone without their own auto policy, including pedestrians and cyclists, may now only be able to claim the mandatory medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits.
- Medical benefits
- Rehabilitation benefits
- Attendant care benefits
- Income replacement benefits
- Non-earner benefits
- Caregiver benefits
If you were hurt on or after July 1, 2026, what you can claim depends on what optional coverage was bought. Check the policy before assuming a benefit is there.
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, changes to Statutory Accident Benefits coverage effective July 1, 2026
What this costs you
We fight for the maximum compensation your claim will carry, and you do not pay a dollar unless we win.
Nothing up front. The consultation is free, we act on contingency, and we advance the costs of building the case so a claim is never held up by money. If we do not recover anything, you do not owe a fee.
- Free consultation, no obligation
- Not a dollar unless we win
- We advance disbursements
- Home and hospital visits across the GTA
Questions we get every week
The categories are defined in the accident benefits regulation and include certain brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations, severe vision loss and defined combinations of impairment. It is a technical test, not a description of how serious the injury feels.
Yes, and it frequently is. These determinations are disputed regularly and the evidence that supports them can be rebuilt.
Timing matters. Some criteria cannot be properly assessed until recovery has plateaued, and a premature assessment can produce a result that does not reflect the permanent picture.
Yes. Ontario allows certain family members to bring their own claims for the loss of care, guidance and companionship.
Longer than most, because the medical picture has to stabilise before the future can be costed honestly. Rushing a catastrophic file usually means undervaluing it.
Related areas
Traumatic Brain Injury
A traumatic brain injury can be severe and permanent while every scan comes back normal.
Read moreSpinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injury claims are decided by the cost of care over a lifetime rather than by the injury itself.
Read moreCar Accidents
After a car accident in Ontario you usually have two separate claims running at the same time: accident benefits from your own insurer regardless of who caused the crash, and a claim against the driver at fault.
Read moreFurther reading
Plain-language guides on the parts of an Ontario claim people ask about most.
The Deductible Nobody Tells You About
A jury awards a number. Then the law quietly removes tens of thousands from it before you see anything.
Read the guide MONEYWhat Is My Claim Worth? Why No Honest Lawyer Answers That on Day One
The number depends on facts nobody has yet, and anyone who gives you one before those facts exist is selling a retainer.
Read the guide AFTER AN INJURYOntario Accident Benefits: What You Can Actually Claim After a Crash
Accident benefits are the part of the system that funds your recovery, and the part most people file wrongly.
Read the guideWhere we act in Ontario
The limitation period, the statutory deductible and the tort threshold are provincial, so they are identical in every city here. What changes is who must be served inside the 10-day notice window, and that is decided by the city.
The lawyer on your file
A lawyer reads every enquiry. Not a form.
Send us what happened and Shawn Sidhu reads it himself, then replies the same business day. The first conversation is free and there is no obligation.
If we do not think you have a claim, we will tell you that too. You will know where you stand before you decide anything.
Shawn Sidhu, Lawyer
Called to the bar in British Columbia, 2013
University of British Columbia · University of Birmingham
- Free consultation, no obligation
- Not a dollar unless we win
- We come to you at home or in hospital
Your fight becomes ours the day you call us.
Consultations are free and there is no obligation. If we take the case you pay nothing unless we win, and if we think you do not have a claim we will tell you that too.
Start your free case review
Tell us what happened. A lawyer reviews every enquiry, and we reply the same business day.
Thank you. We have your request.
A lawyer is reviewing what you sent and will call you the same business day. There is nothing else you need to do right now.
If you would rather not wait, call us now.
(416) 678-8765Free consultation, and no fee unless we win.