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The Western Sno-Riders recently led a fundraiser to help purchase a new rescue sleigh for the Bay of Islands Search and Rescue team, and Poole Althouse made a donation of $500 towards this initiative.

The new Rescue Sleigh is fully enclosed, has lights and a heater. It is almost two feet longer and one foot wider than the current one they have. The SAR attendant and the patient are inside with plenty of room, heat and protected from the elements. All of which are very important if you have to travel a long distance while injured in less than favorable weather conditions.

Q: Two days ago a truck slid into the back of my car and the R.C.M.P. just confirmed that the other vehicle was uninsured. My wife and I suffered injuries and we were wondering, where do we turn now?

A: Unfortunately, it has become an all too common occurrence that our clients are being injured by uninsured drivers in this Province.

Luckily, your own automobile insurance policy provides coverage for all sums which you would otherwise have been legally entitled to recover from the owner or driver of the uninsured truck.

Falling under the Section “D” portion of your policy, this is also the part of your policy which would provide you (and your passengers) coverage if your vehicle was struck by an unidentified automobile or if you were unknowingly a passenger in an uninsured vehicle which ended up in an accident.

The Section “D” portion of your policy contains numerous limitations and exclusions, including provisions setting fairly rigorous timelines for notifying your own insurer that you will be making a claim for injuries and for filing a Proof of Claim form with your insurer.

Once you are paid out, your insurer will generally bring an action in your name against the owner and driver of the uninsured (or unidentified) vehicle.

If you are considering making a claim under your own insurance, you might want to contact a personal injury lawyer sooner rather than later to discuss your obligations to ensure you are not barred from bringing your claims in the future.

Q: I was hit by a car while I was crossing an intersection on a crosswalk and now I have whiplash. How do you calculate what my claim is worth if I wanted to sue the driver?

A: Though I can’t tell you what your settlement would likely be without more detail, I can tell you some of the things that go into my consideration of what to seek as compensation for your injuries. For most soft tissue or “whiplash” type injuries, the pain and suffering or “general damages” component would fall in a general rang of $20,000 – $80,000. Where your claim would fall in that range depends on the seriousness of your injury, the impact on your life and the length of time your injury persists. Once I had discussed these factors with you, and considered the medical documentation from your physician and other treatment providers, I would look to other cases that have gone to Court in this Province for guidance on how a Court would likely value your general damage claim.

I would then determine what the Court would likely award for loss of housekeeping capacity, lost wages (which get awarded on a “net” basis) and other expenses that you might have incurred following your accident. If it is likely that you will miss future earning opportunities, require ongoing medical treatments (physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic treatments, etc.) or have a reduced housekeeping capacity after the settlement of your claim, I would need to work with you, your physician and your treatment providers to determine an appropriate amount to ensure these losses and expenses are properly compensated.

Finally, we would then calculate the “judgment interest” payable on your settlement.

As you can see, there are a lot of variables that go into determining the value of your claim and it is difficult to do without a personal injury lawyer.

The WRH Foundation was very pleased to receive a $1,500 donation from Poole Althouse. Annette Bennett (left), Lawyer, Poole Althouse presented a cheque to Suzanne Carey (right), Executive Director, WRHF. This brings the total donations received from Poole Althouse to $56,495. Thank you for helping us improve healthcare!