Attendant Care Since February 1, 2014

Section 2 of Ontario Regulation 347/13 came into force on February 1, 2014.  The regulation states that the monetary value of attendant care provided by a family member is limited to that family member’s economic loss.  Davis v Wawanesa, is a recent case which determined that this provision should not be applied retrospectively.

In this case, the motor vehicle accident happened before the Regulation came into force, but the claim for attendant care services was made after the Regulation was enacted.  The Plaintiff argued there should be no cap on AC benefits because the accident occurred prior to the Regulation becoming active.

The Regulation does not delineate whether it applies to accidents that occurred before its enactment. Justice Quinlan reasoned that because there was no clear legislative language stating otherwise, the law that applied was the law that was in force at the time of the accident. Consequently attendant care benefits were not capped at the amount of economic loss of the family member providing the AC.

Erik Joffe

Erik Joffe joined Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers LLP as a summer student in 2011, continued with his articles and is now returning as a lawyer. He completed his Bachelor of Arts at McGill University, where he obtained a double major in Political Science and Sociology and graduated with Distinction. He then went on to graduate with a J.D. from Queen’s University Law School. While at Queen’s University Erik was an active member of the Environmental Law Society, member of the Queen’s Law Journal as well as an Executive Producer of Queen’s Pro Bono Radio.
Erik Joffe