Suing After a Car Accident in Ontario: The Threshold, the Deductible, and the 2026 Dollar Figures

Ontario bars a lawsuit against an at-fault driver for pain and suffering, and health care expense claims, unless the injured person died or sustained a permanent serious disfigurement or a permanent serious impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function, and even then, in an injury case, a statutory deductible of $47,913.01 (2026) reduces the award unless it exceeds $159,708.71 (2026). No deductible applies where the injured person died.

Information last verified on 2026-09-24. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article addresses suing an at-fault driver in tort for pain and suffering after a car accident in Ontario, under Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. I.8, section 267.5. It does not cover no-fault Statutory Accident Benefits, which your own insurer pays regardless of fault under a different regulation and a different dispute process; see Ontario Accident Benefits. It does not cover other provinces, several of which use a minor injury cap rather than a threshold on the right to sue at all; see the Canada Car Accident Claims hub for a province by province comparison.

The Verbal Threshold: What You Must Prove to Sue for Pain and Suffering

Ontario's Insurance Act restricts, rather than removes, the right to sue an at-fault driver. Section 267.5(3) and (5) bar recovery of non-pecuniary damages, meaning pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and health care expense claims, unless the injured person died or sustained a permanent serious disfigurement or a permanent serious impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function. Insurance professionals and courts commonly call this the verbal threshold, because it is defined in words rather than a dollar figure.

Meeting the threshold is a precondition. If an injury does not rise to that level, the injured person generally cannot recover non-pecuniary damages or health care expenses from the at-fault driver through a lawsuit at all, and instead relies on the accident benefits described in Ontario Accident Benefits. Whether a particular injury meets the threshold is a fact specific legal question that depends on medical evidence and the course the impairment has actually taken, not something this article can determine for a specific reader.

The Deductible: Why Clearing the Threshold Is Not the End of the Math

Even once the threshold is met, the amount actually recovered for pain and suffering is not simply the jury's or judge's assessed figure. Insurance Act section 267.5(7) requires a deductible, defined as the greater of a statutory floor amount and "the amount prescribed by the regulations." The statutory floor is $15,000 for a general non-pecuniary claim and $7,500 for a claim under Family Law Act section 61(2)(e), which covers claims by family members for loss of care, guidance and companionship. Because the regulation prescribed amount is far higher than these floors and is indexed annually, the floor figures themselves rarely apply in practice; the current indexed amount almost always governs.

The deductible does not apply in death cases. Insurance Act section 267.5(8.1.1) provides that the deductibles "do not apply to damages awarded for non-pecuniary loss awarded in respect of a person who dies as a direct or indirect result of an incident that occurs after August 31, 2010." Where the injured person died, neither the general deductible nor the Family Law Act section 61(2)(e) deductible reduces the award, so the deductible math on this page applies only to injury cases.

In an injury case, the deductible also does not apply without limit. Once an award would exceed a separate, higher dollar figure, called the vanishing point, the deductible stops applying entirely under Insurance Act section 267.5(8) and (8.1), using the amounts set under sections 267.5(8.3) and (8.4), and the full award stands.

The Current 2026 Dollar Figures

FSRA publishes these amounts every year before January 1, under a statutory duty in Insurance Act sections 268.1(1) and 267.5(8.5). A figure cited without a year is a moving target, so always confirm the current year before relying on one.

Because these figures move every year, treat any dollar amount you see elsewhere as unreliable unless it states which year it applies to.

Worked Illustrative Example: How the Deductible Changes What You Receive

Composite scenario for illustration; not a real case or client. Figures use the 2026 amounts above.

Suppose a court finds that an injured person cleared the verbal threshold and assesses non-pecuniary damages of $100,000 for pain and suffering. Because $100,000 is below the 2026 general vanishing point of $159,708.71, the $47,913.01 deductible applies in full. The net non-pecuniary recovery from that head of damage is $100,000 minus $47,913.01, which equals $52,086.99.

Now suppose the same court instead assesses non-pecuniary damages of $200,000. Because $200,000 exceeds the 2026 general vanishing point of $159,708.71, the deductible does not apply at all under section 267.5(8), and the injured person keeps the full $200,000 for that head of damage.

This illustration only covers the non-pecuniary damages calculation. A real claim can include other heads of damage, such as past and future income loss or out of pocket expenses, that are not subject to this deductible, and the deductible math above does not represent a prediction of what any specific claim is worth. Income loss has its own statutory limits: section 267.5(1) bars damages for income lost in the first seven days after the incident, and for pre-trial income loss above 70 percent of the gross income lost during that period.

How Long You Have to Sue

A tort claim against an at-fault driver runs on the basic limitation period in Ontario's Limitations Act, 2002, which applies to civil claims generally rather than to car accidents specifically. Section 4 provides that "a proceeding shall not be commenced in respect of a claim after the second anniversary of the day on which the claim was discovered." Under section 5(1), a claim is discovered on the earlier of the day the person first knew, and the day a reasonable person in their circumstances ought to have known, that the injury had occurred, that it was caused by an act or omission, that the act or omission was that of the person to be sued, and that a proceeding would be an appropriate way to seek a remedy. The clock usually starts on the accident date, but it can start later, so confirm your specific start date with a lawyer licensed in Ontario. For a general overview of how limitation periods work across Canada, see Statute of Limitations in Canada.

This lawsuit limitation period is separate from the two year deadline that applies to disputing a Statutory Accident Benefits decision at the Licence Appeal Tribunal, which runs from the date your insurer refuses to pay a benefit rather than from the date of the accident. See Ontario Accident Benefits for that separate deadline.

Suing vs. Claiming Accident Benefits: Two Different Processes

A car accident in Ontario can produce two separate legal processes that run on different rules. Accident benefits are no-fault payments from your own insurer, covering medical, rehabilitation, attendant care and other listed expenses, available regardless of who caused the crash, and disputed at the Licence Appeal Tribunal rather than in court. Suing an at-fault driver for pain and suffering is a court process, gated by the verbal threshold and reduced by the deductible described above.

These processes are not mutually exclusive. An injured person can pursue accident benefits from their own insurer while also pursuing a tort claim against an at-fault driver, subject to each process's own rules, deadlines and legal tests.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Ontario's verbal threshold and non-pecuniary damages deductible under the Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. I.8, section 267.5, current as of September 2026. It is not legal advice and does not predict the outcome of any specific claim. Consult a lawyer licensed in Ontario for advice on your specific situation.