Newfoundland and Labrador Car Accident Deadlines
The dates that govern a Newfoundland and Labrador car accident claim. Free. No email required. For drivers, passengers, cyclists and people on foot.
Newfoundland and Labrador runs its road accident deadlines in two layers. The Automobile Insurance Act sets the ones that govern suing. Two sets of regulations under it set the ones that govern treatment and disclosure. The first of them closes ten business days after the crash.
THE TEN CLOCKS THAT RUN AGAINST YOU
Only two of the ten run out inside your first month. The rest are longer, and several of them count from a day you chose rather than from the crash. Four more clocks run the other way, against your insurer, and they are further down the page. Not drawn to scale.
Inside the first month Longer, and each counts from its own day
Missing one does not automatically end your claim. The 120 day notice governs interest rather than your right to sue, the protocol claim form has a release valve written into it, and one of the six month deadlines people still quote for this province was repealed thirty years ago. Everything below sets out what starts each clock, what happens if you miss it, and what to write down at the moment it matters.
Which car accident deadline comes first in Newfoundland and Labrador?
The protocol claim form, at ten business days. Section 29(1) of the Automobile Accident Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulations says a claim under the protocols cannot be made until you have completed a claim form giving details of the injury and details of the accident within your own knowledge, and the insurer has received it. Section 29(2) sets the deadline at 10 business days after the date of the accident.
Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, so ten of them is close to two calendar weeks. It still runs from the date of the accident rather than from the date you first see a practitioner.
There is a release valve and a route to challenge it. Section 29(2)(b) lets the insurer set a different timeframe where it determines that 10 business days is not reasonable. Section 29(3) then lets you appeal that determination to the Superintendent of Insurance where you believe the insurer has not adequately considered your circumstances.
This one only applies if you choose it, and only if you have the coverage. Section 3(1) says the protocols apply where you elect to be diagnosed and treated under them for a sprain, strain or whiplash associated disorder injury, and a health care practitioner chooses to treat you under them. Both halves have to happen.
Section 30(2) lets an insurer refuse a protocol claim where there is no contract providing accident benefits that covers you. If your policy has no accident benefits, this deadline is not yours to miss.
How long does protocol treatment last, and how many visits do you get?
Ninety days, or your visit count, whichever runs out first. Section 3(2) says the protocols stop applying on the earlier of 90 days after the accident or the point where the maximum visits are used. Section 6(2) expires the authorization at 90 days. Section 6(3) keeps it alive after that where the insurer approves.
The visit cap is the limit most people meet first. Sections 20 and 21 cap the treatment visits at a combined total of ten or twenty one depending on the injury, on top of one assessment visit. Section 7 approves extra services only where you have access to accident benefits under a contract.
So there are two ways this window closes and only one of them is a date. Ninety days is easy to see coming. A visit count is not, because nobody sends a warning when it runs down.
What does the 120 day notice under section 25.1 actually protect?
Interest, and it protects it from the date you serve rather than the date of the crash. Section 25.1(1)(a) of the Automobile Insurance Act requires written notice of an intention to sue to be served on the insured within 120 days of the accident. Section 25.1(8) says prejudgment interest shall not be awarded under section 3 of the Judgment Interest Act for any period of time before the notice is served. Serve on day 15 and interest runs from day 15. Serve on day 119 and you are inside the 120 days but you have already given away four months of interest.
The 120 days is an outer wall rather than a target. The reason to serve early is arithmetic, not compliance.
Dates also decide whether section 25.1 applies to you at all. It came into force on 1 January 2020, and section 25.1(11) applies it only to loss or damage sustained on or after that date. Section 4(8) of the 2019 regulations does the same for the disclosure obligations. An accident before 1 January 2020 carries neither.
What happens if you missed the 120 day notice deadline?
The claim does not end. Nothing in section 25.1 bars the action. This is the part worth being clear about, because a missed notice reads like a closed door and it is not one.
There is an extension route. Section 25.1(2) lets you apply to the Supreme Court for an extension of the notice period.
There is a cost consequence. Section 25.1(9) says that where a person contravenes section 25.1(1), the court shall consider the contravention in awarding costs. That sits alongside the interest already lost under section 25.1(8), which runs from the day the notice is served whenever that turns out to be.
So the honest position is that late is worse than early and neither is the same as too late. If you are past day 120, the date to write down today is the date you serve.
How do you serve a notice of intention to sue, and on whom?
Serving is not the same as sending. The notice goes to the insured, meaning the person you intend to sue, not to their insurance company. That is normally done by a process server who then swears an affidavit confirming it was served, and that affidavit settles any later argument about whether it happened.
Which means you need their details. The other driver's full name and address, from the scene. Without those you cannot serve anyone. If you did not get them, a police report may have them, though it takes time and money to obtain, and the clock does not pause while you wait.
The notice has required content. Section 25.1(3) says the notice shall advise the insured of their duty under section 29 to give written notice to their own insurer within 5 days after service. A notice that says only that you intend to sue has left that out.
What else does section 25.1 require besides the notice?
Six more things, and they carry their own clocks. Section 25.1(1) sets out seven obligations for anyone who intends to commence an action. The notice is only paragraph (a).
Paragraph (b) is disclosure, and the regulations time it. Section 4(1) of the Automobile Insurance Regulations, 2019 gives you 30 days after you serve the notice to tell the other side's insurer the name of your own insurer, and if you are claiming income loss, to provide evidence of your income from all sources for the 52 weeks before the accident.
Section 4(2) then requires copies of every application for accident benefits you made, every application for other benefits, every medical report and any clinical notes and records from every health professional who cared for you. Section 4(3) defines the window those documents come from as the period starting at the accident and ending on the later of the day you served notice and 120 days after the accident. You have 30 days after that window closes.
| You have | To do this | Counting from |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Give the other side's insurer the name of your insurer, and your income from all sources for the 52 weeks before the accident if you claim income loss, section 4(1) | The day you served the 120 day notice |
| 30 days | Give that insurer your benefit applications, medical reports and clinical notes, section 4(2) | The later of the day you served notice and 120 days after the accident |
| 60 days | Provide updated documents where that insurer asks for them, section 4(5) | The insurer's request |
You do not have to pay for their disclosure. Section 4(6) says you are not required to provide the medical reports or the clinical notes and records, or updates of them, unless the insurer pays all reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining those documents.
Section 4(4) offers the alternative of signing a written consent letting the insurer collect the documents itself.
Paragraph (c) requires you to apply for accident benefits. Section 25.1(4) limits that to a person who has access to them. Section 26.6 explains why it matters even so: damages are reduced by accident benefit payments you received and by those you remain entitled to. Benefits you never claimed still come off.
Paragraph (f) is the examination, and it has limits. Section 5 of the 2019 regulations sets out who may conduct it: chiropractors, dental practitioners, denturists, registered dietitians, dispensing opticians, massage therapists, medical practitioners, occupational therapists, optometrists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered psychiatric nurses and members of a health profession designated under the Health Professions Act. Section 25.1(1)(f) puts it at the insurer's expense. Section 25.1(5) says it shall not be unnecessarily repetitious and shall not involve a procedure that is unreasonable or dangerous. Section 25.1(6) says you shall answer questions relevant to the examination. Section 25.1(7) gives the insurer 60 days to get you a copy of the report.
Paragraphs (d), (e) and (g) cover a statutory declaration about the accident where the insurer requests one, participation in the case management process established in the regulations, and evidence of your identity where requested.
If your claim were decided tomorrow, what would your file say?
People who were genuinely hurt have lost benefits over a date nobody recorded, a form that arrived late, or a call nobody wrote down. Caught early that is fixable. A year on it is an argument you have to win. The Newfoundland and Labrador MVA Companion Guide keeps every date on this page in one place, with the form that goes with each and room to write down what actually happened. $24.99, yours to keep.
Does every Newfoundland and Labrador policy include accident benefits?
Read the Act closely and the answer is that it depends on the contract. Section 33 says every contract evidenced by a motor vehicle liability policy shall provide uninsured motorist coverage. Sections 34 and 35, which are medical expense coverage and accident benefits, are written the other way round. They begin with the words where in a contract an insurer provides that insurance, and they set out how it applies once it exists.
Everything else on this page assumes the same thing. Section 25.1(4) removes the duty to apply for benefits from a person who has no access to them. Section 30(2) of the protocols regulations lets an insurer refuse where no contract providing accident benefits covers you. Section 7 approves extra services only where you have access to accident benefits under a contract.
Section 36 is the tool for finding out, and the obligation to answer sits with them. A person injured or killed in an accident in the province involving an automobile, or their personal representative, may serve a demand by registered mail on the owner of the automobile or on that owner's insurer, requiring a written answer as to whether the owner carries section 34 or section 35 coverage, and where the demand goes to the owner, the name of the insurer.
Section 36(2) makes it an offence not to comply within 10 days. Registered mail matters, because the section specifies how the demand travels.
The Act also defines accident benefits by pointing outside itself. Section 2(1)(a) defines them as Section B Accident Benefits as set out in the S.P.F. No. 1 Standard Automobile Policy. That is why two of the clocks on this page carry no section number. Where your policy carries Section B, you have 30 days from the accident to give your own insurer written notice of an accident benefits claim and 90 days from the accident to file your proof of claim, and both of those are terms of the policy form approved under section 4 of the Act rather than provisions of the Act or the regulations. Read the Section B wording in your own policy for how they are expressed and what happens where notice is late.
How long do you have to sue after a car accident in Newfoundland and Labrador?
Two years, and the start of it is not always the crash. Section 5(a) of the Limitations Act gives two years for damages in respect of injury to a person. Section 5(i) gives two years under the Fatal Accidents Act. Section 14(1) postpones the start until you know or, considering all circumstances, ought to know that you have a cause of action. Section 14(3) puts a ten year wall behind that postponement.
Time does not run against a person under a disability. Section 15(5) defines that as being less than 19 years of age, or being incapable of managing your affairs because of disease or impairment of your physical or mental condition. Section 15(1) postpones the running of time for as long as the disability lasts, and section 15(2) then gives the full limitation period from the day it ends.
Expiry does more than give the other side a defence. Section 17(1) says the cause of action and the right on which it is based are extinguished when the limitation period runs out.
Suing your own insurer runs on a different clock, and it can be shorter. Section 41 of the Automobile Insurance Act covers actions against an insurer over uninsured motorist, medical expense or accident benefits coverage. It says the limitation period is the one specified in the contract, and that in no event shall it be less than one year after the accident.
Two years is the answer for suing the person who hurt you. It is not automatically the answer for a claim against your own insurer, including a hit and run or uninsured driver claim under section 33. That period lives in your policy, so read your own policy for the actual period.
Is there a six month deadline for claims involving the City of St. John's?
No. If you come across one, it is gone. Sections 314 and 315 of the City of St. John's Act were repealed by section 30(3) of the Limitations Act, in force on 1 April 1996.
The same subsection repealed the short limitation provisions in the City of Corner Brook Act, the City of Mount Pearl Act, the Municipalities Act and subsections 198(1) to (4) of the Highway Traffic Act.
One six month period does survive, and it is not yours. Section 36 of the City of St. John's Act still carries a six month period, and it applies to prosecutions for the recovery of penalties rather than to an injury claim.
Which car accident deadlines run against the insurer?
Your insurer has five business days on a protocol claim, and silence costs it the argument. Section 30(1) requires written notice approving or refusing within 5 business days of receiving your completed claim form, with reasons where it refuses. Section 31 says an insurer that does not notify you is deemed to have approved the claim and is liable to pay it.
Silence is a deemed approval. That clock runs against them, not against you.
Refusal is limited to four grounds. Section 30(2) allows refusal only where you are not an insured person under a contract providing accident benefits, where an exclusion in that contract applies, where no contract exists, or where the injury was not caused by an accident arising out of the use or operation of an automobile. Nothing else is available. Section 33(2) then gives 30 days to pay an authorized claim.
| They have | To do this | Counting from |
|---|---|---|
| 5 business days | Your insurer approves or refuses your protocol claim in writing. Silence is a deemed approval | Receiving your completed claim form |
| 10 days | An owner or their insurer answers your registered mail demand about coverage, section 36. Not answering is an offence | Receiving the demand |
| 30 days | Your insurer pays an authorized protocol claim, section 33(2) | Receiving the claim |
| 60 days | The other side's insurer gives you a copy of any report from an examination it required, section 25.1(7) | The insurer receiving the report |
Disclosure to you is immediate rather than dated. Section 14(4)(b) of the 2019 regulations requires an insurer or its adjuster, representative, agent or broker to make a prescribed disclosure immediately on becoming aware of your name and contact information. Section 14(1) sets out what it has to say, including that an insurance company may conduct surveillance of a claimant without consent or knowledge and does not have to tell the claimant it has done so.
The same disclosure has to tell you that the at fault driver's insurer is obliged to settle as quickly as possible, and to make interim payments pending final settlement once it has determined its insured is at fault. Section 26.3 of the Act carries that obligation, and section 26.3(5) says a failure to comply shall be considered by the court in awarding costs. Section 14(4)(c) adds that if you do not confirm receipt of the disclosure, that is not an offence and does not affect your claim.
Were you hurt in a vehicle while working, and who pays?
Then a second set of deadlines applies, and one of them is a choice that runs from the injury. Section 52 of the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act, 2022 removes the right to sue an employer or a worker over a workplace injury. Section 53 switches that bar off where you are hurt in the course of your employment in an accident involving the use of a motor vehicle.
Three months to elect, and applying for compensation is itself the election. Section 54(2) requires the worker to elect between claiming compensation and bringing an action within three months of the injury, and says an application for compensation is a valid election. Dependents get six months under section 54(3). Where you elect to sue instead, written notice of that election has to be served on the commission immediately.
Section 55 gives WorkplaceNL jurisdiction to decide, on the application of a party, whether the action is allowed at all.
Two provisions of the Automobile Insurance Act point the same way. Section 17(a) says a liability insurer is not liable for liability imposed by a workers' compensation law. Section 26.5(2) says damages for income loss shall not be reduced by payments you received or are entitled to under the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act, 2022, which is a carve out from the general rule in section 26.5(1).
The workplace deadlines are separate from everything above. Our Newfoundland and Labrador WorkplaceNL page sets them out, and recovering after a workplace injury in Newfoundland and Labrador covers the whole process.
Did the Newfoundland and Labrador car accident deadlines change in 2026?
The deadlines themselves did not change in 2026. What changed in 2026 was this page. It was corrected on 8 August 2026, and the three corrections are set out in full in the verification block below.
The most recent real change is more than a year old. The Automobile Accident Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulations came into force on 2 December 2024. That is where the ten business day claim form comes from, and it is the reason older guidance for this province does not mention the first deadline you now have to meet.
Two commencement dates decide whether the rest applies to you. Section 25.1 came into force on 1 January 2020, and section 25.1(11) applies it only to loss or damage sustained on or after that date. Section 4(8) of the 2019 regulations does the same for the disclosure obligations. An accident before 1 January 2020 carries neither. Further back, section 30(3) of the Limitations Act came into force on 1 April 1996 and repealed the short municipal limitation periods that people still quote.
Dates are only half of it. Knowing when something is due does not tell you what the five thousand dollar deductible under section 39.1 takes off a settlement, that damages are reduced by accident benefits you were entitled to even if you never claimed them, or that a protocol election caps your treatment visits at ten or twenty one.
Recovering after a car accident in Newfoundland and Labrador covers the whole process and is free to read. Hurt in another province? Start from the guides by province and territory.
Last verified: August 2026
Checked against: the official versions published by the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the Automobile Insurance Act RSNL1990 cA-22, the Automobile Insurance Regulations, 2019 NLR 56/19, the Automobile Accident Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulations NLR 36/24, the Limitations Act SNL1995 cL-16.1, the City of St. John's Act RSNL1990 cC-17, and section 12 of the Automobile Insurance (Amendment) Act SNL 2019 c14 for commencement dates.
The 30 day notice and 90 day proof of claim are terms of the S.P.F. No. 1 Standard Automobile Policy, which section 2(1)(a) of the Act adopts by reference. That policy wording was not read at source for this page, so treat those two figures as a prompt to read your own Section B wording rather than as a citation.
Corrected on 8 August 2026. Three items on this page were corrected. An earlier version treated the six month deadline for claims involving the City of St. John's as though it still applied. Sections 314 and 315 of the City of St. John's Act were repealed by section 30(3) of the Limitations Act in 1996 and no six month deadline applies to an injury claim. The passage on the 120 day notice under section 25.1 was rewritten because that notice governs prejudgment interest rather than the right to bring the action. The one year floor on suing your own insurer under section 41 was absent from that version and has been added.
Deadlines change. If you find something on this page that is out of date, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
Keeping the record these deadlines depend on
Ten business days for a form, thirty days from a day you chose, thirty more from a window that closes on the later of two dates, sixty days from a request that has not arrived yet. Several of these clocks start from something you did rather than from the crash, which means the date you did it is the thing you need written down.
Two things decide how an injury claim goes. What you wrote down and whether you did the right thing at the right time for where you live.
Recovery First. Pressure Last.
EVERYTHING ON THIS PAGE, AND WHAT COMES NEXT
The Newfoundland and Labrador MVA Companion Guide
This page tells you the dates. The guide walks you through them, and gives you somewhere to write down what happened on each one.
- All fourteen clocks, with what starts each one and which way it runs
- Somewhere to record the day you served the 120 day notice, which three later deadlines count from
- The section 36 registered mail demand, and the four grounds an insurer may refuse a protocol claim on
- Fillable on your phone, at 11pm, in bed
$24.99 · instant download · yours to keep
See the Newfoundland and Labrador Companion GuideMost people take it with the National MVA Recovery Guide, the daily record of symptoms, appointments, calls and costs these dates hang on. People who have only one tend to end up with a careful record aimed at the wrong process, or the right dates and nothing to put in front of them.
Not ready for that? The scene checklist for the first three days is at hurtsquare.ca/72. It is free and asks nothing of you.
This page is general information for people in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is not legal or medical advice. Rules differ by province and change over time. Confirm anything specific to your situation with a lawyer or your insurer.