Category Archives: Threshold

Cases interpreting the “threshold” requirement of s. 267.5(5) of the Insurance Act.

Divisional Court Splits on Whether MVA Plaintiff Can Provide Corroborative Evidence of “Change in Function”

In Gyorffy v. Drury, 2013 ONSC 1929 (CanLII), the majority of a Divisional Court panel held that on a “threshold motion” under the Insurance Act, the injured plaintiff can, himself or herself, provide the corroborative evidence required by s. 4.3(5) of Reg. … Continue reading

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Bill 198 a “Codification” of Meyer v. Bright, says Ferguson J.

In Hayden v. Stevenson, Madam Justice Jane E. Ferguson of the Ontario Superior Court held that the Bill 198 amendments to the Insurance Act are a “codification of existing law” and in doing so, sided with Madam Justice Morissette in Nissan v. … Continue reading

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Judge Says Bill 198 Threshold Aimed at Tightening Up the Insurance Act Threshold “By Reducing the Number of Litigants Able to Sue”

About a year ago,  Justice Johanne Morissette’s decision in Nissan v. McNamee  was released. Her Honour concluded that the Bill 198 version of the Insurance Act threshold in MVA cases had not effected much of a change from the previous regime. … Continue reading

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Threshold Decision Underlines Dichotomy Within Ontario Insurance Act

The Ontario legislature has chosen to confer upon judges (alone) the right to decide whether or not a plaintiff in an MVA action meets the statutory “threshold”, making him or her eligible to receive an award of non-pecuniary general damages. … Continue reading

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Judge Says Bill 198 Meant to “Tighten Up” IA Threshold

Sherman v. Guckelsberger was released on December 29, but Ontario auto insurers can be forgiven for thinking that it was meant to have arrived four days earlier. In this case, Madam Justice Jane A. Milanetti had to decide whether or … Continue reading

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Can Defendants Ever Make Effective Rule 49 Offers in MVA Cases?

We are indebted to Mark (“Billy Idol”) Charron of Williams McEnery for alerting us to the recent decision in Peterson v. Phillips. This is another case that deals with the relationship between offers to settle in MVA claims and the … Continue reading

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Limitation Period for MVA Pecuniary Claims Follows That of Non-pecuniary Claims, Says Superior Court

Hard on the heels of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Grewal v. Ivany, released last Friday, Mr. Justice Paul Perell has delivered reasons in Ng v. Beline that address one of the issues considered in Grewal: in personal injury … Continue reading

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C.A. Opens Door to Multiple Limitation Periods in MVA Cases

[Addendum: Since this decision was released and our commentary posted, Mr. Justice Paul Perell has released reasons in Ng v. Beline that deal directly with the issue discussed in this post. It appears that neither the Court of Appeal nor … Continue reading

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First Bill 198 Decision Says Not Much Has Changed

Nissan v. McNamee is, so far as we know, the first decision to interpret the “gloss” on the Insurance Act threshold that was enacted by regulation O.Reg. 381/03 (the package of legislative changes commonly referred to as “Bill 198”). The regulation took effect on … Continue reading

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C.A. Says Trial Judge Applied Wrong Test in Determining Whether Injury “Serious” and “Permanent”

Brak v. Walsh is a short decision of the Court of Appeal (Justices Karen M. Weiler, Michael J. Moldaver and Russell G. Jurianz), on appeal from a ruling by Mr. Justice Gordon Killeen on a threshold motion brought at the … Continue reading

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