Call us now
The legal system uses the term damages when referring to the fiscal impact of a given accident. In Ontario, the legal system follows specific guidelines, when considering the extent of such damages.
Factors that weigh into the considerations made by authorities in legal system
• Nature of injury
• Severity of injury
• What source of harm aided the injury’s creation?
What evidence sheds light on the injury’s impact on the victim’s life? That evidence normally comes from pictures, medical reports, police reports and witness statements. Sometimes the footage on a video camera supports a plaintiff’s argument. The defendant’s lawyer looks in social media for evidence that can refute a plaintiff’s statements.
The rules in Ontario that apply to the awarding of compensatory damages
The personal injury lawyer in Sarnia know that those compensatory damage awards are supposed to help the plaintiff become fiscally whole again. A plaintiff can refer to pain and suffering, when seeking compensatory damages. Still, Ontario’s law places a ceiling on the size of any award for pain and suffering. It cannot exceed $340,000. Indeed, a plaintiff lacks the ability to seek any such award, if the plaintiff’s injury does not meet a specific threshold.
The expenses that contribute to a listing of compensatory damages
• Medical expenses
• Wage loss
• Property loss
• Expenses associated with Family Law Act
The Family Law Act addresses those expenses created when an accident causes a victim to suffer a fatal injury.
It covers the costs of travel, if the family members must travel a great distance, in order to be by the bedside of a dying relative. Additionally, it covers the loss of income, if any of the family members had become dependent on the money earned by the fatally-injured loved one. The Act addresses the value of the time devoted by any family members to caring for the fatally injured relative. That might be time that the same relative could have spent filling the responsibilities of a paying job.
It covers the loss of companionship, if the fatally-injured victim was living with a spouse or partner. It acknowledges the loss of guidance, if that same victim was a parent or a guardian. This allows for payment of funeral expenses, since the family could not prepare for the unexpected death.
In general, the Family Law Act in Ontario takes on the role filled in the United States by the Wrongful death lawsuit. Ontario’s Act acknowledges the existence of changes in how society interprets the meaning of family. That fact becomes most apparent in the rule about loss of companionship.
Ontario’s Act gives a nod to the possibility that a decedent might have a partner instead of a spouse. That possible partner has received the same legal rights as anyone filling the role of spouse.