If you have recently sustained an injury in a motor vehicle collision and are no incapable of completing major work-related tasks, then you may be in a position in which you can file a claim for income replacement benefits throughout your recovery. Regardless of which type of insurance policy you are covered by, income replacement benefits are always included in the statutory accident benefits, which provide coverage, if you are found liable for causing the accident that left you injured.
Who is eligible for filing a claim?
Additionally, Ontario law does not only enable drivers, but also passengers of the vehicles and all others who were involved and sustained an injury, to file an accident benefits claim. This means that people who aren’t even directly covered by the policy are still eligible for filing a claim, such as injured pedestrians or cyclists. The benefits they may be eligible to claim would then be recovered through the driver’s insurance policy, with the help of a personal injury lawyer in Trenton.
Who isn’t eligible to file a claim?
However, as always, there are exceptions. In this case, uninsured drivers, drivers without a valid license, and drivers, who operated a vehicle without the owner’s explicit consent will not be eligible to recover income replacement benefits, through the vehicle owner’s insurance policy. That is why having a lawyer represent your rights becomes important.
Furthermore, if the collision took place in association to any criminal activity which the driver is then convicted for, then said driver will also not be able to obtain any coverage in the form of income replacement benefits.It should be noted that, even if income replacement benefits are not awarded, there is still a chance that a claim for coverage of medical and recovery expenses will be successful, if sufficient evidence can be provided for the building of a solid case.
What does it take to successfully claim for income replacement benefits?
If your involvement in a motor vehicle collision led to you being psychologically or physically impaired to a degree where you are no longer capable of fulfilling major work-related tasks, then you may have grounds for a successful income replacement claim.
In order to be eligible, you will need to be either employed by somebody else or self-employed at the time the collision took place. Alternatively, you may also provide proof that you have fulfilled at least twenty-six weeks of work throughout the year prior to the collision. And you will, of course, also have to prove that your impairment is stopping you from being capable to fulfill major work-related tasks.