The ‘add-on’ no-fault state:

The add-on no fault state allows the victim to collect the benefits under the responsible party’s bodily injury liability coverage, once his medical expenses exceeds the PIP coverage limit.
The doctrine of comparative negligence
Some states follow the theory of comparative negligence, where the responsibility of an accident gets distributed amongst the parties involved in it. This doctrine restricts one party to hold the other party fully responsible for the damages caused to him.
In the states following the doctrine of comparative negligence, the party contributing more than 50% towards the damages caused in the accident, is the party at-fault.
The issue of liability
All the states require the drivers to carry at least the minimum liability coverage and that is to ensure the safety of the community around the driver. The state law makes sure that the driver has adequate coverage to compensate for the damages caused by him to others.

As for the wok that is insured it is the most work in Canada. You can’t be insured if you work for government of a province or foreign country, if you work for a family member (still in some cases it is possible to get EI in this situation), if you are a large shareholder of a company you work in, if you are employed on an entirely casual basis. Generally the qualifying period is set at 52 weeks from your last claim, in case you miss hours due to illness, injury, education, or incarceration, the period will be extended. If you were fired from your job for misconduct or left the job for no reason you won’t get EI. But if you lost your job for a reason beyond your control you can apply for insurance, it also provides possibilities to qualify for maternity, child care, compassionate care, and sick leave benefits. When you apply for EI be sure to present Record of Employment (ROE) from your last employer, it will show the reason why your employment ceased.

After you have received EI there is a number of limitations and rules that you must follow. You receive payment only for days when you are available for work (no holidays etc.) and you are obligated to look for work while unemployed. If you refuse to look for work or accept an offer of suitable Canadian employment the payments will be ceased. As an example of not suitable work: if the offered work is in your field but has a lower wage or under less favorable conditions it can be considered not suitable. HRSDC also provides certain programs that must be attended, if you fail to visit the meetings the payments will be ceased.

As in any civilized country in Canada you can make an appeal if you disagree with determination made under the Act. You need to make an appeal to the Board of Referees within 30 days. An appeal can be made if the Board’s decision was contrary to the principles of natural justice, if it was based on an error of Canadian law, or made on the basis of incorrect and contrary facts. It is always useful to consult a labor and employment lawyer before making an appeal. If the decision of the Board of Referees does not satisfy you, you can appeal to Federal Court Judge within 60 days.

Plant Quinn Thiele LLP – Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyers

Think meeting the insurance adjuster wihout a lawyer is a good idea?  Think again.  Why do they want to meet?

It is the insurance adjuster’s job to find ways to reduce your case or get rid of it entirely. The more documents they have the more chances they will find something to hang their hat on to deny or reduce your claim.

Insurance adjusters much prefer dealing with injured persons who don’t have a lawyer. Why do you think they call you the same or day after you are injured? They want to get to you before you know your rights and interests and BEFORE you speak to a lawyer who can offer guidance to you in relation to your rights and the claims process. They want to control the file, and more importantly, control the evidence. They are not your lawyer and have no duty to you. Their business card says “Adjuster” for the insurer, not lawyer for you. They represent the opposing party’s insurer, not you! Their job is not to give you legal advice, but to investigate the accident. Adjusters know how to manipulate you. The moment you retain an experienced PQTLaw personal injury lawyer, that manipulation stops.

Don’t believe us? Try this. When the adjuster calls to meet with you and obtain a written statement and authorization to obtain information from your doctors and your employer, ask them if you can meet with the owner of the property where you fell or the driver that hit you so you can ask them questions and obtain a written statement. The answer will be – are you crazy? No way. It’s a one way street.

The less an adjuster pays on a claim, the better for their career.  Insurers make millions and millions of dollars in profit every year. They are corporations who’s primary focus is profit, profit and profit. The longer you don’t know your rights and interests, the more serious damage can be done to your claim.  Insurance adjusters receive training and have experience in assessing and investigating claims.

Our experience is that by the time the insurance adjuster is willing to make an offer to settle your claim, given the admissions you may have made, they offer pennies on the dollar.

Why? You dug your own grave – you provided the insurer with a written statement or recorded statement – you provided the insurer with access to all your records, medical, financial or etc – you took no steps to preserve your evidence – you took no steps to obtain your own witness statements – you took no steps to obtain a lawyer to know your rights, interests and risks – and so on… Your case has been destroyed. By the time an offer is made, if one is even made, the insurance adjuster has potentially harmful documents, information and tons of reasons to justify making no offer or making a ridiculously low offer.

Call us at 613-563-1131, Marc-Nicholas Quinn, Plant Quinn Thiele, LLP – OttawaPersonal Injury Lawyers

www.pqtlaw.com   — mquinn@pqtlaw.com

If you find the missing life insurance policy in the future, are you still eligible to receive the death benefit? Hope they paid their insurance bills

If you’re a beneficiary and you find the lost life insurance policy shortly after the insured dies (within six months to a year, for example), claiming the death benefit should be trouble-free.

First, determine if the insured had term or permanent life insurance. If the insured held a term policy, you’ll receive the death benefit if he died before the end of the policy term. If he died after the policy expiration date, you would get nothing.

If the insured had a permanent life policy, you’ll receive the money if the death occurred while the policy was “in force,” meaning all premium payments were made up until the time of death. If the death was a while ago, you’ll receive the benefit with interest from the date of death.

If the life insurance policy lapsed — meaning the insured stopped making premium payments before he died — there’s a chance you might get nothing. When a permanent life insurance policy lapses, most insurance companies switch its status from permanent insurance to one of two options: “Extended term” — The insurance company uses the cash value of the policy to buy a term life insurance policy for the same death benefit using the cash value of the policy. The death benefit will continue for the longest period the cash value will purchase. “Reduced paid up” — The insurance company will keep the policy in force permanently, but will reduce the death benefit.

Gerry Brogla, an actuary for State Farm, says in the majority of the cases at his company, the permanent policy continues as extended term if it lapses. At State Farm, extended term is the default option for most permanent policies.

If the policy lapses, and the extended-term period expires before the insured dies, the policy is worthless and the life insurance beneficiary will get nothing. If the insured dies before the extended-term period is up, the beneficiary will receive the death benefit. If the policy lapsed because the insured died (thus ending premium payments and causing the insurance to be placed in extended-term status), the beneficiary will still collect the full death benefit, regardless of when the extended term was up. The beneficiary always needs to supply the insurance company with a death certificate to verify the date of death.

There is no time limit during which a life insurance beneficiary must step forward to collect the money, according to Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers. “If a person shows up 30 years after [the insured's] death, the company still makes good on it,” Dolan assures. What happens if no one ever reports the death?

If the insured dies and the insurance company does not learn of the death, the policy lapses. Insurance companies will take steps to find out why a policyholder stopped making payments.

When an insurance company stops getting payments, it sends letters to the insured informing him the policy may lapse as a result of unpaid premiums. If the letters go unanswered, the company might initiate a search to find the insured. If that comes up empty, the company will then lapse the policy.

If a beneficiary to a policy never steps forward, it unfortunately means the insured paid money to a policy throughout his life and his beneficiaries never see a penny. This is why its a good idea to make sure beneficiaries are aware of any life insurance policies you have.

If you’re lucky, the state may have your money

In some cases when a beneficiary fails to claim a death benefit for several years, the money is transferred to the state where the insurance policy was purchased under the escheat laws.

If a company knows an insured died and it cannot find the beneficiary, it must turn the full death benefit over to the state comptroller’s department within three to five years of the insured’s death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered “unclaimed property” and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The comptroller’s department maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost life insurance beneficiaries.

Many states will try to contact life insurance beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits. In Texas, for example, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries are published annually in each county in the state. In New York, the Web site of the New York State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds has an online search to find any unclaimed death benefits owed to you. You can find out the procedures in your state by contacting the office of your state comptroller or treasurer.

Keep in mind your chances of finding the policy with the state are slim. The insurance company has no obligation to hand the money over to the state if it’s unaware the insured died. In most cases, it’s the beneficiary who contacts the insurance company.

Also, the insurer only transfers the money to the state three to five years after it cannot find the beneficiary but knows the insured died. If the state doesn’t have the death benefit, it’s likely the insurer is still looking for the beneficiary or doesn’t know the policyholder has died.

Unclaimed death benefits are rarely transferred to the state. Dave Potter, a spokesman for Hartford Life, says less than 1 percent of his company’s death benefits go unclaimed.

Del Chance, a life insurance claims manager at State Farm, says, “Turning over life policy benefits to an individual state after the death of an insured is extremely rare. State Farm utilizes their own search techniques as well as outside vendors to locate lost beneficiaries in the event of the death of one of our insureds. By and large these procedures have always located the beneficiary.Tips for making sure your life insurance beneficiaries get your death benefit:

1. Give your beneficiaries your policy information. It can be a difficult and awkward conversation, but an important one.

2. Keep all your financial records (especially your life insurance policies) in one place. Don’t force your beneficiaries to search your house from top to bottom after you die.Tips for looking for lost life insurance policies:

1. Go through canceled checks or contact your relative’s bank for copies of old checks. Look for checks made out to insurance companies.

2. Ask those who may have known about your relative’s finances. Speak with the relative’s lawyer, banker or accountant. Also contact the relative’s insurance agent.

3. Contact your relative’s past employers. They might know of possible group life insurance. The insured might have also purchased supplemental life insurance through work.

4. Check the mail for a year. Premium bills and policy-status notices are usually sent annually.

5. Look at income tax returns for the past two years. Check for interest income from policies or expenses paid to life insurance companies.

6. Contact the Medical Information Bureau. If your relative bought life insurance fairly recently, there might be a trail of the companies to which he applied. The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) maintains a database that might show if insurers requested your relative’s medical information within the past seven years. Record searches can be requested through the MIB’s Policy Locator Service and cost $75. The MIB says that nearly 30 percent of searches turn up leads.