Oakville Personal Injury Law Blog

A teenage girl in Ottawa died on May 12 after sustaining an injury during a rugby game. The girl sustained a brain injury the week before her death when she was involved in a hard tackle. The rugby community is honoring her memory while teaching players about safety during an upcoming tournament.

The girl was 17 years old. She slipped into a coma after sustaining the injury and was removed from life support a few days later. The tragedy has helped influence a renewed interest regarding safety gear. Scrum caps provide head protection, and they are sometimes used in rugby. However, high school players are only required to wear a mouthguard. No players were wearing these caps at the time the teenage girl sustained her injury. Another player who recently sustained a head injury during a game when she was tackling another player said that she would take the weekend off due to the teen's death. She said that she understands why she needs to be on the sideline and that the tragedy has made everybody more cautious.

Ontario Provincial Police responded to two serious accidents that occurred early in the morning of May 9 by St. Catharines. One of the accidents was a fatal motor vehicle accident, and the other involved victims sustaining serious injuries. Several individuals had to be transported to hospitals for treatment related to the accidents.

The first accident occurred on the Queen Elizabeth Way. The accident involved two passenger vehicles and two tractor trailers on Highway 406 that occurred as a chain reaction and resulted in the death of one of the individuals involved; three other individuals sustained injuries that were considered life-threatening. The police stated that the highway was closed in both directions near the crash location and that the highway was considerably damaged.

In September of 2010, medical benefits provided by insurance companies for victims in car accidents were reduced in Ontario. Previously, car insurance providers in Ontario offered $100,000 in expenses for treatment that the health care system would not cover for victims. Once reduced, the amount became $3,500 for victims who only had minor injuries from an accident. The intent of the reduction was to save people money. However, that has not been the case as most still pay the same amount or possibly even more.

Due to a recent victim's experience, it has now come into question how it is determined that minor injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident are, in fact, only minor. This victim claimed that he had more than just soft tissue injuries, and there was no proof indicating that the injuries from the accident were not severe.

A Financial Services Commission of Ontario arbitrator recently issued a ruling that may make it easier to collect insurance benefits under the minor injury guideline. The provincial government placed a $3,500 cap related to injuries that fell under the minor injury guideline in 2010 as part of a larger move to reduce potential liability for insurance companies, yet the arbitrator determined that this may not be true for all victims of car accidents in Ontario.

The arbitrator in this case ruled that individuals who had injuries that would typically fall within the minor injury guideline could receive treatment beyond the cap if they could provide credible evidence that they suffered from a pre-existing condition that prevented them from acquiring maximum recovery. Specifically, the arbitrator ruled that an insured could receive damages for housekeeping, medical expenses, rehabilitation expenses and attendant care past the $3,500 cap because the car accident victim had pre-existing conditions and psychological difficulties that were aggravated by the car accident.