Ottawa personal injury lawyer explains your rights if hurt in an accident

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Ask The Expert: Auger Hollingsworth 1

Ask The Expert: Auger Hollingsworth 2

If you get injured in a car accident, whether you’re a cyclist or a passenger, you should be compensated and taken care of, says an Ottawa lawyer.

CTV Morning Live hosted Brenda Hollingsworth, personal injury lawyer from Auger Hollingsworth, and asked her the following scenarios Wednesday:

I have a dislocated shoulder and a mild traumatic brain injury after a car accident. I am a teacher, so these injuries have left me off work for the indefinite future. I was the passenger. My husband was the driver and might have been at fault for the accident. Can I still be compensated?

Hollingsworth says the answer is a yes. She recommends suing your spouse, citing a response from the insurance company.

“If you were seriously injured and off work, you should obviously talk to your spouse about it, but you’ve paid insurance for years for a reason and there’s no reason you can’t get compensation,” she said. “Even if the person is your own spouse.”

“We’ve had husbands suing wives, wives suing husbands, children suing parents. It really doesn’t matter; the insurance will respond. Everybody understands and it’s what’s best for your family.”

She says that some clients feel guilty when they come in for a consultation. Hollingsworth adds that people shouldn’t hesitate to proceed, citing the need for money or mental recovery after the accident.

I was riding my bike on the road where there were no bike lanes, I was riding up the right side of the lane of traffic when a car turned right and hit me. I broke my collarbone and two front teeth. I don’t have a car. How do I get my teeth fixed?

She says everybody who’s injured in an accident in Ontario gets benefits. Cyclists without car insurance get their no-fault benefits from the driver of the car who hits you when they are hurt.

“Unless you have someone in your house who might have car insurance. It might go there. But, there’s always a solution,” she added.

“So, if you talk to a lawyer, we’d be able to help you figure out how to get it.”

And when it gets to getting your teeth fixed, it’s going to be through the accident benefits.

“And then the second part of money is the lawsuit. You’re paying in suffering, the loss in income, your care needs beyond the accident benefits. And so, you would want to sue the at-fault driver,” Hollingsworth added.

When there’s an accident between a car and a cyclist, the car is often not damaged, she notes, adding that the incident might not be reported. Hollingsworth says whoever hits a cyclist in a car has to report it to the insurance company, even if the vehicle doesn’t need to be repaired.

In case the driver doesn’t report the incident, the cyclist might have to go through the long process of reporting it themselves, as that warrants an investigation. She recommends getting the insurance information from the driver at the scene, noting that makes the process so much easier.

If someone asks to take a photo of their license plate, the cyclist should not accept that, she adds while suggesting insisting on getting a picture of the driver’s licence.

“The police sometimes will tell you: ‘Well, we’ll get you a report,” (but) they are really backlogged, especially in Ottawa, like six months backlogged,” Hollingsworth said.