Automobile and Personal Injury Claims

Use of the Guides is mandated by law in several jurisdictions in Australia, New Zealand, and Ontario, Canada, for the adjudication of personal injury claims arising from motor vehicle accidents. In the United States, although not officially mandated, the Guides is often used to quantify the extent of injuries resulting from an automobile casualty or personal injury. Insurers may use an impairment rating as one of the factors in determining the reserve or settlement value of a claim. Attorneys may use this to quantify the impact of an injury. With no-fault insurance, some states restrict access to the court system to cases reaching a specifically defined permanent impairment according to each state's own impairment guidelines threshold. For example, in the province of Ontario, a fixed injury may be documented by the presence of physical impairment according to the AMA Guides at a certain threshold.