I am Joseph A. Nagy, and I am an experienced Edmonton injury lawyer serving central and northern Alberta. Personal injury law is my business, which means I have daily experience with the personal injury claim process.
I receive many inquiries from people who have tried unsuccessfully to complete the required steps in the personal injury claim process themselves. They start out believing they can settle their claim with the insurance company by themselves. Inevitably, they require a lawyer to file a Statement of Claim with the Court to protect their right to sue. By then, however, they have already prejudiced their case by releasing critical information to the insurance company, information that they did not have to provide. This critical mistake makes it more difficult for an injury lawyer to protect their interests. My advice: get personal injury law advice up front!
If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident, please call (780) 760-4878 (HURT) or contact me, Joseph A. Nagy, to discuss the injury claim process and how to deal with the insurance company. Just ask for a free consultation. You are under no obligation to hire me as your personal injury lawyer.
Learn more about how the personal injury claim process works. These client testimonials may also help you understand the importance of having a qualified injury lawyer in your corner to help you through the personal injury claim process.
Alberta’s Care-First no-fault system is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. The regulations have been published, but the legislation is not yet in force — so for now, the current rules still apply.
The claim process described on this page applies to accidents before that date. If your accident occurs before Alberta’s Care-First no-fault system is implemented, the current tort system applies. For accidents on or after the changeover, claims are handled as benefits disputes with your own insurer and follow a different path. If you are unsure which applies to you, ask us. The consultation is free.
A personal injury claim has two main stages: the insurer stage and the litigation, or trial, stage. Rather than going to trial, your claim may instead be resolved through Alternative Dispute Resolution.
With very few exceptions, your claim must be settled, or a Statement of Claim filed, within two years of the date of your accident. Most claims never reach a trial.
If your claim can be resolved directly with the insurer without having to resort to litigation, then there is no need to litigate. I have successfully settled thousands of personal injury claims without having to litigate.
Obtaining the best possible compensation at this stage requires a pro-active approach to gathering the medical, wage loss, and other information needed to prove your claim to the insurer. I can guide you through the steps you will need to take, including:
To find out how I use personal injury experts to obtain maximum compensation for my clients, see Why I Use Personal Injury Experts to Win Injury Claims. You can also meet my injury law team.
Generally, insurance companies and clients both want to avoid costly litigation. Litigation can be stressful and a lengthy, drawn-out process. In some cases, however, a claim cannot be resolved at the insurer stage. The main reasons are:
Where a claim cannot be resolved with the insurer, a Statement of Claim must usually be filed at the courthouse within two years of the accident. Exceptions to this rule exist. Call (780) 760-4878 (HURT) or contact Joseph A. Nagy to find out whether one applies to you.
In the litigation stage, the insurance company of the party responsible for your injuries hires a lawyer to defend your claim. As your personal injury lawyer, I will exchange relevant records with that lawyer.
A procedure called a questioning then occurs at one of the lawyers’ offices. Current practice is that the questioning takes place via video conference.
Further document production will likely arise out of the questioning, and a second questioning may be held to cover information that was not available the first time. The insurance company’s lawyer may require you to attend one or more Defence Medical Examinations. I will prepare you in advance of such meetings. Expert reports are exchanged, and your case can then be scheduled for trial.
Trial is the final stage of the litigation process. Most personal injury cases, however, settle without trial.
Yes. Most personal injury claims are resolved without a trial. A settlement can occur at any time, with or without a formal process. Where a formal process helps, the two most common forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution are mediation and Judicial Dispute Resolution.
Both are “without prejudice”, which means what is said cannot be held against you later for any purpose, including at trial.
In mediation, a trained mediator helps the parties reach a resolution by identifying what each side actually needs and developing strategies that meet those interests. This approach is called interest-based mediation. It works well when the parties are not far apart and an evaluative approach is not required.
A Judicial Dispute Resolution, or JDR, takes place at a courthouse before a judge in a private setting rather than in a courtroom. The lawyers prepare written briefs, make submissions, and the judge may ask the parties questions. The judge then addresses the strengths and weaknesses of both sides and informally evaluates the case. A JDR is very useful when one or more parties need a judge’s informal opinion on a complex legal issue. The downside is that it takes a long time to get a JDR date scheduled with the Court in a personal injury case.
Yes, under no-fault insurance, fundamental changes will take place in how your claim is handled. Almost everything described on this page applies to accidents before January 1, 2027.
Under Alberta’s Care-First system, scheduled to take effect on that date, most injured people will no longer sue the driver who caused the crash. Instead they will claim benefits from their own insurer. There is no defence lawyer, no questioning, no Defence Medical Examination, and no Judicial Dispute Resolution, because there is no lawsuit.
If you disagree with your insurer’s decision, you first seek an internal review by the insurer, which has its own deadline. If the insurer’s review does not resolve matters, the dispute can go to the Alberta Automobile Care-first Tribunal rather than to a court. You have 60 days to appeal, a filing fee applies, and the tribunal cannot award costs. Its decision is final apart from judicial review.
Which system governs your claim depends on the date of your accident, not the date you contact us. If you were injured before the changeover, the process on this page still applies to you, and the two-year limitation period still runs. To learn more, see No-Fault Insurance in Alberta: What “Care-First” Means for Injured Albertans.
