Why Your Pain-and-Suffering Award Is Smaller Than You Think
People are often surprised to learn that a jury can award them money for pain and suffering, and then a chunk of it disappears before it reaches them. In Ontario car accident cases, two rules are responsible. They apply only to claims arising out of the use of a motor vehicle, not to slip and falls or other injuries.
Understanding them early changes how you value a case and whether it makes sense to push it.
First, the threshold
Before you can recover anything for pain and suffering in a car accident case, your injury has to clear what the Insurance Act calls a threshold. In plain terms, you must show a permanent and serious impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function, or permanent serious disfigurement. Death also qualifies.
This is a legal test the judge decides, and it usually rests on medical evidence built over time. Soft-tissue injuries that fully resolve often do not meet it. Injuries that leave lasting limits on your work or daily life usually do.
Then, the deductible
If you clear the threshold, a statutory deductible is then subtracted from the pain-and-suffering portion of your award. The figure is adjusted every year for inflation. For 2026 it is $47,913.01 for the injured person’s own claim, with a separate deductible of $23,956.52 for family members’ claims under the Family Law Act.
The important wrinkle is that the deductible disappears entirely once the pain-and-suffering award climbs above a set amount, which for 2026 is $159,708.71 for the injured person’s own claim and $79,853.70 for a family member’s Family Law Act claim. No deductible applies at all where the crash caused the death. So two cases that look similar can land very differently depending on which side of that line the award falls.
Why this matters for strategy
The deductible is one reason insurers fight hard to keep awards modest, and one reason that the difference between a good case and a great case is not linear. It also means the value of your accident benefits claim, which is not subject to the deductible, can matter just as much as the lawsuit.
None of this should discourage a genuine claim. It just means the math is not what most people assume, and getting an honest read on it early is worth the call.
- ·The threshold and deductible apply only to car accident pain-and-suffering claims.
- ·You must first prove a permanent, serious impairment to recover for pain and suffering at all.
- ·A deductible of $47,913.01 in 2026, indexed yearly, comes off the award below a set amount.
- ·The deductible vanishes once the award rises above the monetary threshold, $159,708.71 in 2026 ($79,853.70 for a family member’s claim), and does not apply where the crash caused the death.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and every case turns on its own facts. If you have been injured, and especially in a matter involving car accidents, Shah & Shah Lawyers offers a free consultation.