Understanding the notice letter in personal injury lawsuits

When an individual sustains an injury as a result of the negligence or malpractice of another person, they may be entitled to compensation. Unfortunately, as any personal injury lawyer in Ontario can attest, the process of securing compensation is often long, drawn out, and painful. Today, we’ll look at the ‘notice letter,’ an important first step in initiating legal action when you have suffered a personal injury.

If it is decided that an injury victim is entitled to compensation, their entitlement begins at the moment the injury occurred. For that reason, successful plaintiffs in Ontario’s courts are eligible to receive ‘prejudgment interest’ – interest that accumulates on the money they are owed prior to it being paid – provided they file a notice letter with the defendant.

The format of notice letters may vary depending on the personal injury lawyer in Ontario that the plaintiff hires, but in general, each letter should identify the injured person, state how they were injured, and inform the recipient that legal action is being considered. In most cases, the recipient will forward the notice to their insurance provider.

As stated above, the primary purpose of a notice letter is to identify the date the injury occurred in order to accurately calculate prejudgment interest. According to two recent Ontario Court of Appeal decisions – Cobb v. Long Estate and El-Khodr v. Lackie – the rate should reflect “the bank rate at the end of the first day of the last month of the quarter preceding the quarter in which the proceeding was commenced,” as stipulated by the Courts of Justice Act. In other words, the action commenced in January 2018, as confirmed by a notice letter, would use the bank interest rate from December 2017.

Notice letters are also important in personal injury cases where a municipality is at fault. According to Ontario’s Municipal Act, “no action shall be brought for the recovery of damages under subsection 2 unless, within 10 days after the occurrence of the injury, written notice of the claim and of the injury complained of has been served upon or sent by registered mail to the Clerk of the Municipality.”

If you have suffered an injury and believe that you are entitled to compensation, you should immediately contact a personal injury lawyer in Ontario to discuss your legal options. Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers’ team of experienced representatives can help you file the necessary documents to initiate a claim and look after the legal minutiae while you focus on your recovery.