So you have been injured in a car accident in Ontario and are considering suing for your pain and suffering, also referred to as ‘general damages’.

There are two things you need to consider if your injuries arise from an automobile accident:
     1) you need to have suffered a serious permanent impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function; and
    2) your general damages must amount to more than the monetary threshold, otherwise your settlement will be subject to a sizeable deductible.

The Ontario Court of Appeal in Meyer v Bright, 1993 CanLII 3389 (ON CA) outlined that any car accident injuries has to include a serious permanent impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function before general damages can be claimed in a lawsuit. Decisions since Meyer have further explained that an impaired function – like a sprained wrist, broken leg, even depression and anxiety towards your mental health:
  • needs to continue into the indefinite future to be considered ‘permanent’. For example if there’s no real improvement to say, your headaches or back pain despite attending physiotherapy or chiropractic care for over a year, your injury could be considered permanent;
  • needs to make your daily functioning difficult to be considered ‘important’. This test is a subjective one and depends on whether the function impaired is important for you. For instance, a leg injury for someone who sits at a desk all day might not be considered important, whereas that same leg injury for a professional runner would be important; and,
  • needs to be ‘serious’ to you based on how it impacts your life. For example, significant driving anxiety might not be serious for a retired mother who never drives, but that same anxiety could be serious for a truck driver who is on the road often and needs to drive to earn income.

The result of the above is that whether you’ve sustained a serious permanent impairment from a car accident is decided on a case-by-case basis and depends on how your daily life has been impacted.

However, even if you sustained a serious permanent impairment from a car accident, the second hurdle you’ll face in a lawsuit is called the monetary deductible.

Simply put, as of January 1, 2026, unless your general damages are above $159,708.71, any amount you receive in settlement or court for general damages will be reduced by $47,913.01. This means that if your general damages are less than $47,913.01, you get nothing. The deductible increases each year with inflation.

These two hurdles, having a serious permanent impairment and having general damages worth more than $47,913.01 can be a huge roadblock to you proceeding with lawsuit despite someone else being at fault for injuries you have sustained in a car accident.

The good news is that personal injury firms like Virk Personal Injury Law can help you overcome these roadblocks depending on the circumstances of your case and ensure you receive adequate compensation. Call for a free consultation in person or over the phone.