Preszler Law Blog

Car accidents have gotten especially worse as distracted driving and speeding are on the rise, as well. Some of the most frequently observed scenarios responsible for crashes in Nova Scotia include, but are not limited to:

In Nova Scotia, the law (the Nova Scotia Insurance Act) limits an injured victim’s ability to receive compensation related to pain and suffering that is considered to be a “minor injury” to $8,768* as of 2019 (*indexed to inflation each year; starting at $7,500 in 2010)

Dog bites can result in serious injuries. At the very least, they will result in a trip to the hospital. You may need shots to clear up potential infections and you will likely have to live with at least some discomfort for a period of time. In some cases, you end up missing time from work because you cannot do your job while you are recovering. People can also sometimes die from dog attacks.

In all accidents there is an obligation on the plaintiff or injured party to show that they did all that was reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they hold no fault for the accident and subsequent injuries.

Were you partially at fault in a motor vehicle collision? Movies and TV have made the general public believe that trials involve asking whether someone is responsible for an injury or an accident, and then asking how much damage was caused. But in real life, injury trials can be much more complex than just two parties battling it out in court. Many injury cases involve multiple defendants pointing the finger at and blaming each other—as well as defendants trying to blame the victim for causing or contributing to his or her own injuries. Many injury victims are shocked when a defendant or an insurance company’s first reaction is to blame them for their own injuries. For people already struggling with disability, lost work, and seemingly endless medical procedures, being blamed seems like adding insult to injury. Understanding how Nova Scotia injury law treats victims who are partially responsible for their own injuries, and understanding what happens if you are indeed responsible, will help you handle these common defence tactics. What is Contributory Negligence? Contributory Negligence, as the name suggests, is the extent to which a victim “contributed” to his or her own injuries by his or her own negligence—that is, by doing or failing to do something that the victim should have done. Some examples of situations in which an otherwise innocent victim can be blamed for contributing to their injuries may include: A driver who is distracted by an in-car infotainment system, and thus fails to avoid another driver who has run a stop sign A consumer who is injured by a product because the victim failed to read or pay attention to usage instructions on packaging A motorcyclist who is hit by a negligent driver, but the cyclist is not wearing a helmet (and the same logic would apply to someone in a car who was not using a seat belt) Someone who falls on a substance on the floor, but the victim was looking elsewhere, or was not paying attention to his or her surroundings before falling The law recognizes that just because a victim may have contributed to his or her own injuries—or at least, because the victim could have lessened (mitigated) the injuries that were sustained—that does not mean that victims should recover nothing. Instead, Nova Scotia’s contributory negligence laws provide that a court must determine what percent of the accident or the injuries were caused by the victim’s own negligence. The victim will then not be permitted to recover for that percentage of the total verdict. How Contributory Negligence Works in Court Take for example a motorcyclist who is hit by a driver that ran a stop sign. The cyclist was not wearing a helmet. He sustains a torn rotator cuff in the accident. The court determines that the victim’s damages, including bills, future medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering, are $100,000. The court also finds that the failure to wear the helmet made the victim 10% responsible (contributory negligence) for his or her own injuries. That means that the most the victim could recover would be $90,000. The amount the victim is responsible for his or her own injuries changes depending on the facts. For example, assume that our motorcyclist did not suffer a rotator cuff injury, but rather sustained a traumatic brain injury when his head hit the pavement. The court might now find that wearing a helmet would have greatly decreased the injuries the victim sustained. In this scenario, the percentages may be reversed—a court could find the motorcyclist 90% liable for his or her injuries, and the driver that ran the stop sign only 10% liable. Now, the victim’s recovery is limited to only $10,000. Getting Medical Treatment One area in which many victims end up being liable for their own injuries, is in the failure to get proper medical attention or the failure to follow medical advice. In many cases, injuries or disabilities are made worse when people do not get medical attention. Nova Scotia law allows a court to find a victim partially responsible for his or her own injuries, to the extent that the failure to obtain medical treatment caused or made the injuries worse than they would have been. This failure to get proper medical attention opens the door for defendants to use their own experts to give their own medical testimony about how the victim’s injuries came about. Instead of a court hearing an otherwise clear-cut case about someone who fell on a dangerous surface, the court now hears medical experts testifying about whether the victim’s injuries were caused by the fall or caused by the failure to get appropriate medical treatment. The victim is seemingly “on trial” for his or her medical decisions, which is not a good situation in which to be. Multiple Defendants   Of course, not every accident involves just a victim and a single negligent defendant (person or business). In many cases, there may be multiple defendants responsible in part for the accident or inquiries sustained by an accident victim. Contributory negligence plays a role in these kinds of cases, as well. Let us assume that in a car accident, a victim is hit from the side in an intersection in a car accident. The negligent driver runs a red light or other traffic signal. However, in addition to this illegal and careless driving by the negligent driver, the airbag in the victim’s car also fails to deploy. The victim suffers serious head injuries and, uncertain of exactly who is responsible for his injuries, sues both the driver and the car manufacturer. There are two ways that these defendants can be liable to the victim if a verdict is entered in court. Joint and Several Liability The first way is called joint and several liability. This means that if one defendant could not pay the verdict (the total amount of the victim’s damages as determined by the court) the victim could go after either defendant to pay…

In all accidents there is an obligation on the plaintiff or injured party to show that they did all that was reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they hold no fault for the accident and subsequent injuries.

In all accidents there is an obligation on the plaintiff or injured party to show that they did all that was reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they hold no fault for the accident and subsequent injuries.

In all accidents there is an obligation on the plaintiff or injured party to show that they did all that was reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they hold no fault for the accident and subsequent injuries.

In all accidents there is an obligation on the plaintiff or injured party to show that they did all that was reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they hold no fault for the accident and subsequent injuries.

In all accidents there is an obligation on the plaintiff or injured party to show that they did all that was reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they hold no fault for the accident and subsequent injuries.