The Nova Scotia Minor Injury Cap

The Nova Scotia minor injury cap limits general damages for a motor vehicle injury that meets a definition set by regulation under the Insurance Act. Nova Scotia introduced a cap in 2003 and replaced it in 2010 with a higher amount and a narrower definition, so the rule that applies depends on the date of the collision. For any recent crash it is the 2010 version that governs.

What the Nova Scotia Minor Injury Cap Defines as Minor

Under the current definition an injury is minor if it is physical in nature and does not cause a permanent serious disfigurement, or a permanent serious impairment of an important bodily function caused by a continuing injury. The test is written in the negative. Once the injury is shown to produce a permanent serious impairment, the cap falls away and general damages are assessed in the ordinary way described in the general damages guide. Psychological consequences that flow from a physical injury are treated as part of it rather than as a separate uncapped claim.

How the Amount Moves

The regulation sets an amount and adjusts it annually, so each accident year carries its own figure. The number that applies is the one in force when the collision happened. No amount is printed here because it changes every year and is confirmed against the regulation when the claim is valued. The Insurance Act and its regulations are published with the rest of Nova Scotia’s legislation on CanLII.

Treatment Protocols Sit Beside the Cap

The 2010 reforms were paired with diagnostic and treatment protocols for sprains, strains and whiplash associated disorders. The protocols give an injured person a defined course of care in the months after the crash without waiting on insurer approval for each visit. They matter to a cap argument as well as to recovery, because the records generated by that care are the evidence that later shows whether the impairment continued. The benefits side of this is set out in the Section B benefits guide.

What Stays Outside the Cap

Income loss is not capped. Neither is the cost of treatment or future care. The cap also applies only to car accident and other motor vehicle claims, so injuries from a fall or an assault carry no such ceiling.

Where This Sits in a Nova Scotia Claim

The cap is applied when the file is valued, after the medical picture has stabilised. Starting the claim itself follows the sequence in suing after a car accident in Nova Scotia, and the equivalent rule next door is in the New Brunswick minor injury cap chapter. The firm argues impairment on Nova Scotia car accident files, with no fee unless the claim resolves.