A motor vehicle accident results in damaging the involved vehicles. The vehicles’ owners must find a way to pay for that damage. At the same time, the driver and any passengers may sustain one or more injuries. The injured victims need money, in order to cover their medical expenses.
Method for covering the costs of the needed repairs
If collision coverage has been included in the policy purchased by the vehicle’s owner, then the other driver’s insurance company should pay for any needed repairs. That assumes that the driver in the vehicle with the collision coverage was not responsible for the damage-causing collision.
If the insured vehicle’s driver has been named at-fault for a given accident, then the insurance company is not obligated to cover all the costs of the necessary repairs. Instead, the car’s owner must pay the deductible, before the insurance company becomes responsible for covering any remaining repair-related expenses.
Method for paying medical expenses in Alberta
In Alberta, if the victim of a motor vehicle accident has only minor injuries, those can get treated under the Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulation. The expenses associated with such a treatment get covered by Accident Benefits, which are also known as Section B benefits.
A victim with major injuries must seek a different approach, when looking for a way to cover treatment costs. Victims with major injuries must seek help from private medical insurance, or from an insurance plan offered by an employer.
If the private insurance or the employer’s insurance fail to provide a sufficient amount of funds, then the injured victim can seek additional funds by using a source of money that was created by Alberta’s government. That source is called the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund.
Residents of Alberta should understand that the money in the Claims Fund does not automatically become available to those that might seek it. Residents that need additional funds, in order to cover the cost of their accident-related medical expenses must submit an application.
Suppose the application is denied; what happens then?
In that case, the person with the denied application must consider initiating a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. The plaintiff’s chances for winning a fair compensation would depend on the degree to which the plaintiff has kept a record of his or her medical expenses. By the same token, the plaintiff’s ability to win a fair compensation would correspond with the skills of the hired lawyer.
Ideally, that personal injury lawyer in St. Albert has acquired experience with presentation in a courtroom of a client’s case. In addition, the lawyer’s experience should have included times when he or she needed to make contact with expert witnesses. Their opinion can work to strengthen a lawyer’s argument.