Judgment Obtained - Defendant Declares Bankruptcy - What Do You Do? Ottawa Accident Lawyers - www.PQTLaw.com

It sometimes happens that you obtain judgment against someone in a personal injury court action and that person is not insured and the judgment is unpaid. The defendant is unable to pay and makes an assignment into bankruptcy. What are your rights? If the person has insurance, you may be able to apply for payment from the insurer directly through certain provisions of the Insurance Act of Ontario, in addition to opposing the bankruptcy. If the person was uninsured, you have the right to oppose the defendant's bankruptcy and seek conditions on any discharge ordered. If the person - bankrupt is unable to pay 50 cents on the dollar of his debts owing, there will automatically be a conditional discharge, providing an opposition is filed. If the defendant was particularly vexatious and unnecessarily prolonged the court proceeding, you have grounds to oppose the bankruptcy and seek that there be conditions attached to any discharge such as the payment of money to the Trustee for the benefit of the creditors, who share pro rata to their proven claims, subject to the Trustee's fees being paid as a first charge. There are many grounds that may be used to oppose a bankruptcy. If the judgment obtained is based on a judicial finding of fraud, the debt owed to you will likely be exempt from discharge. Debts occasioned by fraud cannot be discharged on bankruptcy. To learn more about your rights in circumstances where a bankrupt seeks to deny you recovery of compensation, contact us at 613-563-1131 - Plant Quinn Thiele - Marc-Nicholas Quinn.