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At Goldfinger Injury Lawyers, we tell our clients to be very careful about what they post on social media. Whatever gets posted, past, present or future can, or will be used against you by an insurance company at Court in order to defeat your case, or test your credibility.

When we tell people this sort of thing, they roll their eyes in disbelief. How can anything I say, or post, ever be used against me in the context of my personal injury case?

Our personal injury lawyers see this sort of thing all of the time. Here are a few examples of how social media posts can hurt a personal injury case:

  • Client says under oath that they can’t walk or run for a long period of time on account of their injuries sustained in the motor vehicle accident. Going for long walks and jogs has been out of the question ever since their car accident. Defence counsel then disproves this statement referencing Strava Posts of the Plaintiff’s hiking and running data. This data is publicly shared online via Facebook or on Instagram. It costs nothing for the Defendant to access these posts because they’re public. No private investigator was required. Just a quick internet search. The data shows the Plaintiff routinely going for bi-weekly runs and hikes in excess of 20km at a fast pace. The Plaintiff is dressed in running gear and is seen flexing their muscles after the workouts. #TrainHard is the hashtag in each post. Not a good look for a Plaintiff who swore under oath the exact opposite.
  • Plaintiff says they don’t go out, they no longer go on vacation, and that they no longer socialize with friends as much since the subject accident; they don’t like being in big crowds of people due to social anxiety developed as a result of the accident. But, social medial tells a completely difference picture. It shows the Plaintiff away on a Caribbean vacation post accident. It shows the Plaintiff smiling and socializing at a friend’s wedding. It shows the Plaintiff out at a professional sporting event attended by 40,000+ people (post accident). These images discredit the Plaintiff’s injuries, and call into question his/her veracity and credibility. Everything which the Plaintiff says will be taken with a large grain silo of salt moving forward (along with his/her past statements and allegations)
  • Clinical notes and records of the family doctor show that the Plaintiff is not supposed to life objects of 10 pounds or greater. Plaintiff testifies under oath that s/he cannot lift objects of 10 pounds or greater, nor can they do any heavy lifting, bending or squatting. Images of the Plaintiff circulate online of him/her participating in a rock climbing event; and a curling tournament. The average curling stone weighs between 38-44 pounds. So much for the statement that the Plaintiff cannot lift; or should not be lifting objects over 10 pounds.

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Around 5 years ago, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers noticed a surge in E-bike accident calls to our law firm. E-bikes had gained popularity. More e-bikes were being sold by run of the mill bike shops and big box stores alike. More people were open and excited to use them. Any why not? They were affordable methods of convenient and environmentally friendly transportation. E-Bikes and their cousins E-Scooters went fast and didn’t use any gas. They were, and remain a great way to get around.

What we noticed a few common themes with E-Bike and E-Scooter accidents at our law firm:

  1. The injuries to the rider(s) tended to be serious. This made sense given that the accidents took place at higher speeds than accidents involving nor motorized bikes. But, also like regular bikes, the riders did not have the safeguards you would see on a car (airbags, bumpers, seatbelts). The only protective gear for a cyclist (motorized on non motorized) was the helmet the person was wearing, along with any other clothing. Doctors have observed that injuries sustained in e-bike accidents tend to resemble injuries sustained in motorcycle accidents. This is significant because motorcyclists are required to have licenses and to have registered their vehicles. E-bikes are not required to be registered, and operators are not required to have driver’s licenses.
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When there is an emergency, we are trained to dial 911

I’ve had to dial 911 from different communities across Ontario. Every community seemed to answer the phone in the same way. The script went something like this:

“911 Do you need Police, Fire or Ambulance?”

It was very straight forward, direct and clear to the caller. Time was of the essence, and the caller would respond accordingly.

One of the most memorable calls I had to make to 911 was on a long term disability case. My client was being examined for discovery at a Court Reporter’s Office in London, ON. As a result of her condition, in combination with the stress of being examined for discovery, she passed out at the examiner’s table. She was being asked questions one moment; and in then next moment she completely passed out. I had to call an ambulance which took her to hospital. The paramedics (London) were fantastic, and arrived in well under 10 minutes. Needless to say, the examination for discovery was not completed that day. Everyone was shaken up. It was a pretty traumatic experience for all of the parties, including the Court Reporter and everyone in the waiting room. The defence lawyer reported what happened to her client, and the case settled soon after. This time, the pain and suffering was not compartmentalized to the Plaintiff alone. It was one of the few times where an insurance defence lawyer had a front row seat to a Plaintiff’s pain, suffering which impacted their ability to complete their job.

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When I was a young lawyer, I was in Court 2-4 days per week. These were not days spend in trial, although, there were some trials.

Most of the time I spent in Court had to deal with Motions (opposed, on consent or unopposed) in order to move personal injury cases forward. The cases were stalled until the motion could be heard. The motions were not “rocket science” incredible complicated. They were completely normal motions which any personal injury lawyer would need to bring. The motions were for such things as:

  • Motion to Amend the Statement of Claim
  • 30.10 motion for Third Party Records
  • WAGG Motion for the complete, unedited police file and Crown Brief
  • Motion to extend to time to serve the Statement of Claim
  • Motion for substituted service
  • Motion to compel the production of undertakings, questions taken under advisement and refusals
  • Motion to transfer the jurisdiction of a case to another jurisdiction
  • Motion to have an action heard at the same time, or one after another along with another matter
  • Contested motions for a Plaintiff to attend a second or third defence medical examination
  • Motion for Judgment for the approval of an infant settlement

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Cases can be similar. But not the same. No two cases are alike.

The same can be said for Judges. They can be similar, but they aren’t the same. No two Judges are alike; nor do they see things alike.

But, what the public and what personal injury lawyers look for is consistency in judicial decisions. When there are legal principals which address the same point; the same law ought to be applied; and should result in a predictable outcome once the law is applied to the case at hand.

We are going to share with you two cases, which dealt with the exact same thing. Yet, the outcomes were completely different! This doesn’t happen often, but it can happen.

Both cases involve car accident cases dealing with minors (people under the age of 18). When there is a Plaintiff, or a claimant under the age of 18; personal injury lawyers and insurance companies seek for Judges to approve of the settlement. There are many policy reasons for this. It’s a good public policy to protect the interests and the rights of minors. We want to make sure that the settlement is equitable and just. We want to make sure that the minor’s funds aren’t misappropriated. We don’t want the minors coming back to the Courts once they’ve hit the age of majority and suggest that the settlement was improvident; or something which they should never have agreed to in the first place. These policy reasons are important both for Plaintiffs and Defendants alike.

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One of the most common questions which personal injury clients want to know is how long their case will take to settle.

I, Brian Goldfinger, would love to give a one size fits all answer to this question because that would make my job as a personal injury lawyer a much easier one. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all answer to such a question.

Some cases take longer to settle. Some cases take more time.

Let’s take a look at a recent decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice which provides some clues as to why cases might take more long to settle.

Here is the case of Vaillancourt v. R.K. Mooney Insurance Brokers Ltd., 2025 ONSC 6761 (CanLII). These are in fact, two cases in one, which are to be tried together, or at the same time, such as the Trial Judge best sees fit.

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Person gets bit by a dog.

Person sustains objective injury (cuts, lacerations, stitches, sutures, or even worse)

Person sustains damages and/or quantifiable loss from said dog bite injury.

Person retains a personal injury lawyer.

Person wins a judgment or settles their case outside of Court.

Person cashes in their settlement cheque.

It all sounds pretty easy….

But it’s not.

The two most difficult legal concepts for dog attack victims to grasp in a dog attack case is insurance coverage; along with the OHIP Subrogated Claim. Both concepts are not unique to dog attack cases, however, they play out in a unique way compared to other personal injury cases.

Let’s start with the idea of insurance coverage for a dog attack case.

Assume that the dog owner is either:

a) Homeless without assets

b) Not homeless, but living off Ontario Works or ODSP and residing in public housing

c) Resides in a rental apartment without any rental coverage

d) Is visiting Canada from a foreign country, and brought their dog along for the visit

e) The dog owner cannot be tracked down by Animal Control, the Plaintiff, Neighbours or Witnesses to the Dog Attack

In all of these examples, finding insurance coverage will prove to be very difficult. Having insurance coverage attach to a dog owner/defendant is very important in order for the Plaintiff to achieve compensation. A Plaintiff has to remember that you cannot get blood from a stone. Suing a party who is destitute, without assets, or unknown; will not achieve any meaningful monetary results. A Plaintiff can secure a Judgment against a person without assets. But, if the Defendant cannot satisfy that Judgment, then what good is that to a Plaintiff if their goal is to get compensation for their injuries. If the Plaintiff’s goal is achieving civil justice, then that’s a different conversation. But all civil justice will achieve is securing a monetary judgment upon which you cannot collect because the Defendant is, for lack of a better term, broke! The Judgment is simply just a piece of paper. The Defendant does not go to jail because they cannot pay out on a civil judgment in a personal injury case. Nor can a Judge order that a Defendant pay back services in kind in order to pay off the value of the Judgment; meaning; the Judge cannot for the Defendant to do odd jobs for the Plaintiff in order to pay off the debt owing. That’s not how our civil courts work for personal injury cases.

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Part of the secret to defending a personal injury case, isn’t in the defence of the case on its merits itself. Rather, it’s all about trying to find alternative sources of income or benefits which the Plaintiff is entitled to so that that money offsets any potential award. This way, if even if an at fault Defendant or large insurer looses the case; their damages exposure is limited by the amount of collateral benefits which a Plaintiff has received; or which a Plaintiff is entitled to.

The term collateral benefits is often misunderstood by Plaintiffs, or disability claimants. But, it’s a very important term for any Plaintiff in a personal injury case to understand.

Think of collateral benefits as an amount of money (or benefit) which a Plaintiff is entitled to. The Plaintiff may be receiving that money; or they may not. The money might not be coming in because the Plaintiff has not applied, or thought of applying for that benefit. We see this frequently. There is no playbook for getting injured. Nor is there a playbook for what benefits to apply for after a serious accident, injury or disability claim. Many Plaintiffs don’t know that they might be entitled to benefits; or they don’t know how or when to apply for said benefits. Unfortunately neither the law nor insurers care about that. If you are entitled or eligible for said benefit, you should apply even if you didn’t know the benefit existed. The law will treat the Plaintiff as if they knew about said benefit, and as if they were eligible to receive said benefit; even if they didn’t receive it. The set off will be applied irrespective of whether or not the application for the benefit was made or not.

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In school, you’re not taught what to do after a serious car accident. There is no course or classroom lesson. This is something which people will learn from friends, family members, lawyers, reading, or through life experience.

While car accidents happen everyday,  the same people aren’t involved in car accidents everyday. They are the exception, and not the norm for individuals. But, the opposite is true for insurance companies. They handle hundreds of calls a day, and thousands of cases each year across the country. Handling car insurance cases is part of their business model. They are familiar with the ins, and outs, and what has to get done in order to process a claim and see it through.

Our personal injury lawyers have seen that people want advice in their time of need right after a car accident. They don’t know where to turn, what to do, or who to trust. Innocent accident victims are shaken up, and in a vulnerable state. They want to trust their insurance company to given them advice, and to point them in the right direction. But, the insurer has their best interests in mind, and not yours. They will try to set up the claim in such a way as to best limit their exposure in an effort to maximize their profits. So, injured accident victims need to beware, and take everything which the insurance company says with a grain of salt (or a large mound of it). The relationship between injured accident victim and insurance adjuster can get off on the right foot, but can quickly sour thereafter. A few denials here and there. An assessment with an “independent” specialist to justify a denied treatment plan. Things can get messy really quickly. Here are some quick tips on things to avoid with your insurance company following a serious car accident:

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Most people around the Golden Horseshoe Area of Ontario woke up Sunday morning to snow. It was the first snowfall of the season. Normally, the first snow fall is just a warning shot. It snows; and it’s pretty. And very quickly, the snow melts away without causing any chaos. It’s a reminder to make our vehicles, our homes and ourselves “winter ready“. This means a mad rush to buy salt or sand for our driveways and walkways, getting our snow tires on our vehicles; having winter clothes and winter boots (which fit; especially for the children); making sure our vehicles have proper levels of antifreeze and windshield washer fluid (the stuff that works well in the winter); installing winter mats to our vehicles, homes and places of business and any other preparation that suits your needs for the winter weather. It’s quite a transition going from “this weather is tolerable” to “I don’t want to leave the house because it’s cold and yucky outside”.

After the first snowfall of the year, our law firm gets a lot of accident calls. Whether they are slip and fall calls, or car accident calls; we tend to see a lot more accidents after the first snowfall of the year. I have a lot of theories behind this. But, the primary theory always comes down to the fact that people aren’t ready for the first snowfall. They either forgot about how to deal with driving or simply walking in winter weather conditions. Or, they are new to dealing with winter weather conditions. If you are new to Canada, and coming from a country that doesn’t experience snow, ice or slush; then driving or just walking in your first snowfall is new and you don’t have the experience of handling these conditions. The other part of the equation is that people are taken by surprise by the first snowfall. They don’t have their winter boots ready. Their snow tires aren’t on their vehicles so they are sliding all over the roads. Finally, the city’s snow plows and salt trucks are ready, but they really aren’t in a winter maintenance grove because it’s their first time needing to be dispatched for the season. When you haven’t done something for a while (like trucks/snow plows sitting idle in a yard all year long), getting back into the swing of things can take time.

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