The minor personal injury cap is the rule that most changes the value of a New Brunswick car accident claim. It limits what an insurer pays for pain and suffering when the injury fits a short statutory list. It does not limit anything else, and it has an exception that adjusters rarely volunteer. This post sets out the history of the cap, the six injuries it covers, the serious impairment test, and what the cap leaves untouched.
The Minor Personal Injury Cap Limits Pain and Suffering Damages Only
The cap restricts pain and suffering damages for injuries on a statutory list, and nothing beyond them. A person hurt by someone else’s negligence is the plaintiff, and the at-fault driver is the defendant. The plaintiff can claim for every loss the crash caused.
The cap restricts one part of that claim. The province enacted it to control auto insurance payouts, and it limits the amount recoverable for pain and suffering when the injury meets the statutory definition of minor.
If the diagnosis fits the definition, the limit applies by law. Insurers rely on it heavily because it saves them a great deal of money each year, and adjusters argue for it on nearly every soft tissue file.
The cap came in in 2003, when auto premiums were rising across Atlantic Canada. The original limit on pain and suffering was $2,500.
The 2003 version was badly drafted. It caught severe injuries and left people with chronic pain holding $2,500. Criticism from the public and the bar followed for a decade.
In 2013 the province amended the Insurance Act. The base amount rose to $7,500, the definition of a minor injury was rewritten, and the figure was indexed to inflation.
The maximum now adjusts every year with the Consumer Price Index, and the Financial and Consumer Services Commission publishes the new figure each January. The current figure is on the Commission’s site, and the firm checks it on the first call.
The cap is a ceiling, not a payout. The adjuster does not write a cheque for the maximum. The plaintiff still has to prove that the pain and suffering justifies the figure claimed.
What Injuries Are Restricted by the Minor Personal Injury Cap?
The Insurance Act lists the injuries the cap applies to. If the diagnosis matches the list, the adjuster applies the cap.
The Insurance Act lists these injuries as covered by the cap:
- Contusions
- Abrasions
- Lacerations
- Sprains
- Strains
- Whiplash-associated disorders
A contusion is a bruise. Bruises hurt and can be extensive, but they heal without structural damage, and the cap treats them accordingly.
An abrasion is a scrape. Road rash from a collision will be classified this way by an adjuster. It stays capped unless it leaves permanent serious disfigurement.
A laceration is a cut deep enough to need stitches or glue. It stays capped unless the scarring is significant, permanent, and visible. Adjusters routinely discount the psychological effect of a permanent scar, and that effect is compensable.
A sprain is a stretched or torn ligament, and a strain is a stretched or torn muscle or tendon. Both are common in collisions, and insurers describe both as simple soft tissue injuries that resolve in weeks.
Whiplash-associated disorder is the injury most argued over. The neck is thrown back and forth on impact. It is on the list, and it can also produce chronic pain that lasts for years.
Clinicians grade whiplash from WAD 1 to WAD 4. WAD 1 is pain and stiffness with no physical signs. WAD 2 adds reduced range of motion and point tenderness.
Adjusters treat WAD 1 and WAD 2 as capped by default. Whether they are depends on the serious impairment test, and that turns on medical evidence instead of the grade.
A Serious Impairment Takes an Injury Out of the Cap
The Insurance Act contains an exception: a sprain, strain, or whiplash injury that results in a serious impairment is not capped.
A serious impairment is a substantial inability to perform essential tasks. Moderate pain while doing chores does not meet it. The injury has to physically or cognitively prevent normal daily functioning.
The first test looks at regular employment. An injury that prevents the essential duties of the plaintiff’s job meets it, with medical documentation of the inability to work.
The second test looks at training and education. A student whose injuries force them out of a program has a serious impairment, proven by academic records and the medical file.
The third test looks at activities of daily living: personal hygiene, preparing meals, basic household maintenance. A person who can no longer manage those independently is outside the cap.
The impairment also has to be ongoing. Two weeks of restricted mobility stays capped. The impairment must last, or be expected to last, for a substantial and indefinite period.
The Cap Restricts General Damages and Not Special Damages
The cap restricts general damages only and has no effect on out-of-pocket financial loss.
General damages compensate pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. They are non-pecuniary because pain has no price tag. This is the only category the cap touches.
Special damages compensate calculable financial loss, proven with receipts and invoices. The cap cannot be applied to them.
Special damages usually include:
- Past lost income from missed work
- Future loss of earning capacity
- Out-of-pocket medical expenses and prescription costs
- Travel mileage to and from medical appointments
- Costs for future necessary medical care
- Loss of valuable services, such as landscaping or housekeeping
Loss of income is usually the largest item. Six months off work is six months of wages, claimable in full whether or not the pain and suffering is capped.
Loss of valuable services is the item most often missed. Paying someone to mow the lawn, shovel snow, or clean the house because the injury prevents it is a claimable cost, with receipts.
Future cost of care covers treatment that will predictably be needed later: physiotherapy, mobility aids, equipment for the home. It is calculated over the plaintiff’s expected life using actuarial evidence.
Does the Minor Personal Injury Cap Apply to All Accidents?
No. The cap applies to motor vehicle collisions governed by auto insurance policies, and to nothing else. Insurers do not correct people who assume otherwise.
A driver or passenger injured in a car accident is within the cap. That is the case the legislation was written for.
A motorcyclist in a highway collision is within it too, though motorcycle crashes usually produce fractures or head injuries that are outside the list entirely.
A pedestrian or cyclist struck by a vehicle is within the cap. A person hit in a crosswalk with only soft tissue injuries has to prove serious impairment like anyone else.
The cap does not apply to trip and fall accidents on private or commercial property. A fall on an icy grocery store sidewalk is a claim against a commercial liability policy, and general damages are uncapped.
It does not apply to dog bites, boat accidents, or defective products either. It is tied to the auto insurance scheme only. Mike Murphy Law Group can confirm which rules govern a given case.
Adjusters Apply the Cap Early and Offer Releases
Adjusters apply the cap before there is a diagnosis and offer a release while the claimant is short of money. They work for the insurer, and their job is to resolve the claim for as little as possible, and the cap is their main tool for doing it.
The first call often comes within days of the crash. The tone is friendly. The purpose is to collect statements that support classifying the injury as minor.
Adjusters will say the injury is capped before there is a diagnosis. That framing is meant to make legal representation seem unnecessary.
The serious impairment exception is usually left out of early negotiations. The adjuster reads the file, sees whiplash, and applies the cap, without asking whether the plaintiff can still lift their children or do their job.
Early offers arrive while the plaintiff is off work and short of money. An offer of $5,000 against a signed release three weeks after the crash closes the claim permanently, whatever the injury does afterwards.
Do not sign a release without legal review. Mike Murphy Law Group has seen many claimants sign early and regret it.
Medical Evidence and Section B Treatment Prove Serious Impairment
Serious impairment is proven with the family doctor’s notes, specialist reports, a functional assessment, and the treatment record Section B funds. Telling a judge the injury is severe is not evidence.
See a doctor after the crash even if you feel fine. Adrenaline masks soft tissue pain for the first few days.
See the family doctor regularly afterwards and report every symptom and every limitation. The clinical notes become exhibits.
Attend physiotherapy, massage, and rehabilitation as prescribed. Missed appointments become the insurer’s argument that the injury was not real, and a plaintiff has a duty to mitigate.
Keep a daily journal of pain levels, sleep, and tasks not managed. It gives the court a chronological record the medical file does not contain.
Document every missed day of work with a letter from the employer setting out absences, lost overtime, and modified duties.
Section B accident benefits run alongside the tort claim. Section B is a mandatory part of every standard auto policy in the province, claimed from your own insurer regardless of fault, and it is separate from the lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
Section B pays for physiotherapy, massage, chiropractic care, prescriptions, and part of lost wages. It funds treatment without waiting for the lawsuit, and the treatment it funds builds the medical record the serious impairment argument depends on.
Insurers cut Section B off early where they can, usually after an independent medical examination by a doctor they pay. A lawyer can push for reinstatement.
Proving serious impairment usually needs specialist evidence. The insurer will have its own doctors; the plaintiff needs independent opinions from orthopaedic surgeons, neurologists, or physiatrists on nerve damage, joint instability, or chronic pain.
An occupational therapist’s functional assessment measures what the plaintiff can physically do at work and at home. It is the most direct evidence on the serious impairment tests.
Once the lawsuit is filed, discovery begins. Both sides exchange documents, and the insurer will ask for the full medical history to search for pre-existing conditions.
The plaintiff is examined for discovery under oath on the accident, the pain, daily limitation, and work history. Mike Murphy Law Group prepares clients for it.
The Claim Must Be Filed Within Two Years, and Mike Murphy Law Group Runs It on Contingency
The limitation period is two years, counted from the day the injury was known or ought to have been known, and Mike Murphy Law Group takes the claim on a no win, no fee basis.
The Statement of Claim has to be filed in the Court of King’s Bench before that date. After it, the claim is barred regardless of severity. Do not let an adjuster’s negotiations run past it.
The Insurance Act also sets shorter notice periods for informing the at-fault driver’s insurer of the intent to sue. Late notice complicates the claim.
The statutes are published by the New Brunswick legislative resources, and federal acts by the Department of Justice. Reading them is not a substitute for advice on a specific file.
Mike Murphy Law Group is led by Michael B. Murphy, KC, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of New Brunswick. The firm has over 40 years of experience and over 100 reported decisions.
The firm gathers the police reports, interviews witnesses, and retains the medical specialists. It runs the claim while the client recovers.
Personal injury claims are taken on contingency. No win, no fee: nothing is paid unless the claim resolves successfully.
Start by speaking with a dedicated car accident lawyer. The firm has five offices; visiting our Moncton head office is one way to begin.
The firm also handles motorcycle collisions and pedestrian injury claims, where the cap question comes up the same way.
FAQ
What Is the Current Amount for the Minor Personal Injury Cap in New Brunswick?
The limit changes each 1 January with the Consumer Price Index. As of 2026 the maximum for capped general damages is nearly $10,000. The applicable figure is the one for the year of the accident.
Does the Minor Personal Injury Cap Apply to Concussions?
No. The list is contusions, abrasions, lacerations, sprains, strains, and whiplash-associated disorders. A concussion is a brain injury, not a soft tissue injury. An adjuster who applies the cap to a concussion is wrong, and it is worth getting legal advice at that point.
Can I Still Sue for Lost Wages If the Minor Personal Injury Cap Applies?
Yes. The cap restricts general damages only. Past lost wages, future loss of earning capacity, medical expenses, and loss of valuable household services are all claimable in full.
How Long Does a Whiplash Injury Take to Exceed the Minor Personal Injury Cap?
There is no set time. The question is whether the whiplash causes a substantial inability to do essential work or daily tasks for a prolonged period. If it does, it is a serious impairment, and the medical evidence has to show it.
Will the Insurance Company Tell Me If My Injury Escapes the Minor Personal Injury Cap?
No. Adjusters are trained to classify injuries as minor and will hold that position until a lawyer establishes the serious impairment through the litigation process.
The full list of claim types this firm handles is set out under injury law areas, and calls about a new file go to the Moncton office first.