Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers in Ontario
Spinal cord injury claims are decided by the cost of care over a lifetime rather than by the injury itself. The life care plan and the housing assessment are the documents that determine the value of the case.
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
A spinal cord injury reorganises a person's entire life, and the claim has to account for all of it: attendant care, equipment that wears out and gets replaced, an accessible home, and the income that will not now be earned.
These cases are almost always assessed as catastrophic, which opens the higher benefit limit. That funds care during the case. The claim against the person at fault addresses the decades after it.
The mistake to avoid is settling before the medical picture has stabilised, because everything after that is priced off a picture that is no longer accurate.
Secure the catastrophic designation
It raises the combined benefit limit substantially and removes the time restriction, which changes what care can be funded immediately.
Build the life care plan
Attendant care hours, equipment replacement cycles, therapy, medication and transport, costed across a lifetime by qualified planners.
Assess housing
Most homes cannot accommodate a wheelchair without significant modification, and sometimes a move is the only realistic answer. Both get costed.
Do not settle early
Function continues changing for a long time after a spinal injury. Settling before it plateaus means pricing the wrong future.
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
Many are, and the regulation sets out specific criteria. It should never be assumed either way without assessment.
Accident benefits can fund some of it, and the balance forms part of the claim against the person at fault. Both routes are usually needed.
Longer than a straightforward injury claim, because the future cannot be costed until function stabilises. That wait is what protects the value.
Care provided by a family member can be compensable. It should be documented from the beginning rather than reconstructed later.
Many people do, often in a different role or with accommodation. Residual earning capacity is part of the assessment rather than an assumption in either direction.
Related areas
Catastrophic Injury
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.
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 moreAccident Benefits
Accident benefits are paid by your own auto insurer regardless of who caused the collision.
Read moreWhere 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.