Recovery Against an Uninsured Driver

By: Brianna Carmichael, Associate Lawyer

If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident and the at-fault driver or drivers did not have insurance, there are several ways you can still recover. This post will briefly cover these options.

Section D coverage

Section D of your own automobile policy (standard in New Brunswick and most places) will cover you if the responsible parties do not have insurance. The coverage is almost identical to the coverage you would have if the other party had insurance. There are a few key differences, including the limits to how much money you can recover against Section D – only up to the minimum limits of insurance in New Brunswick, which are $200,000.

In order to pursue a claim against Section D, you need to have had a car insurance policy “at home”, meaning in your own name or in the name of someone living in your household (i.e. your spouse, your parent, etc.) But what if you and no one in your home has an insured vehicle to rely on?

The Facility Association

In the Atlantic provinces, including New Brunswick, an organization called the Facility Association has been set up to cover the needs of people who do not have any other insurance policy they can rely on. The benefits through the Facility Association are meant to protect and cover people who were innocent victims of a car accident when they did not and could not know that the vehicle was uninsured.

One important limit that applies to claims against the Facility Association is that you cannot recover if you were the owner or driver of the uninsured automobile. In that situation, you knew or should have known that the vehicle did not have insurance and the Facility Association will not benefit you if you fail to take the ordinary and prudent step of insuring your vehicle or making sure the vehicle you are driving had insurance.

Conclusion

Recovery against an uninsured driver can be more complicated than against ordinary insured drivers. If you are in a situation of having to claim against an uninsured person for an accident you were involved in, it is a good idea to consult a lawyer to clarify these issues. The Mike Murphy Accident Team can help guide you through these complicated legal steps.

DISCLAIMER: The publications on this website are intended to provide information of a general nature and not legal advice. The information contained in this publication is current to the date of the publication and may be subject to change following the publication date.