Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog

Social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace have become increasingly popular over the years. People use these website to post information about themselves, post photos, even videos. These websites are intended to be a fun way to network and interact with others.

Accident victims who start legal actions often make claims that their lives have changed since their accident. People complain of constant pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety and being unable to enjoy their activities or their lives like they did before their accident.

Traditionally, insurance companies have requested mountains of documents and medical records to substantiate and confirm the accuracy of an accident victim's personal injury claim. Insurance companies are now starting to look to less traditional avenues to get all the dirt they can on an accident victim's claim.

Insurance companies are now starting to investigate the content of people's Facebook and Myspace pages to confirm the accuracy and verify the credibility of an accident victim's case. If you've been hurt or injured in an accident, it's very important to monitor exactly what content you put on these websites.

Ontario Courts have recently ruled that the content of social networking pages like Facebook and Myspace is relevant in personal injury cases. What that means is when an insurance company finds out that you have a profile on one of these websites; regardless if it's a public profile; or a private profile; it will likely be ordered by the Court that any information, photos and/or videos from these pages be produced to the insurer.

If the accident victims says one thing, but the information, pictures or videos on a social networking site say another; the accident victim will be caught in their lie.

Insurance adjusters are now being trained to search social networking sites to get all the information they can on an accident claimant. All of the information which they can get publicly; or through application to the Court will be used against the accident victim in their case.

What can you do to protect yourself? Well; for starters; don't lie to yourself, the insurer or your lawyer. Take down your Facebook page. Take down your Myspace page. Don't even give the insurer any opportunity to dig for information which can be used against you. If you think you can hide that you have a profile on a social networking page from an insurer; you're wrong. If you lie, you're not only lying to the insurer, your lawyer and yourself; but you're also seriously jeopardizing your case. Insurers can also ask your family at discovery or trial whether or not you have a social networking page like Facebook or Myspace. It's just best you take the page down.

If you have any questions regarding the issues raised in this article, or your would like copies of some Ontario Court decisions where Judges have ordered production of Facebook or Myspace pages to insurers, please contact Brian Goldfinger or Goldfinger Personal Injury Law at 416-730-1777 or 1-877-730-1777 http://www.goldfingerlaw.com/

If you've been hurt or injured in an accident, call Goldfinger Personal Injury Law today for your free consultation. DON'T PAY UNTIL YOUR CASE SETTLES!

THIS ARTICLE IS NOT INTENTED TO BE RELIED UPON AS LEGAL ADVICE; NOR IS IT INTENDED TO CREATE A SOLICITOR-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

We recieve many calls at our office from accident victims who want to know how long they have to sue for damages arising from their accident. You have 2 years from the date you knew or ought to have known you have a cause of action. The date that you knew or ought to have known you have a cause of action, is, more often than not, 2 years from the date of the accident. The limitation period to bring your action is set out in an Ontario statute called the Limitations Act, 2002. The Limitations Act, 2002 replaced the old Limitations Act. There is little a lawyer can do to change the limitation periods as set out in the statute, aside from present your case in such a way to show that your case was in fact commenced within the limitation period.

If you try to sue outside of a limitation period, the insurer will likely attend before the Court and seek a Judge's persmission to have your claim struck for being brought outside of the limitation period (this is called a motion). If the insurer is sucessful, not only will your claim be struck, but there's also a good chance that you will have to pay for the insurer's legal costs for bringing your claim outside of the limitation period. No Plaintiff lawyer wants this to happen to their client; especially when they know their client can't afford to pay for the insurer's legal costs.

Ignorance of a limitation period is not a defence. Even if you are newcomer to Canada, and you have no idea how limitation periods work or what they are; this will not protect you.

Certain cases have special limitation periods. Suing a City or a Municipality requires that you give written notice to that City or Muncipality within 10 days from the date of the accident. We often see this in slip & fall cases on city sidewalks. Failure to give written notice to the City or Municipality within 10 days from the date of the accident, while not fatal to your claim, may jeopardize it from being advanced. After you've given your 10 days written notice, you then have 2 years from the date of the accident to sue.

We often tell our clients NOT TO WAIT to contact a lawyer after their accident. The longer you wait, the greater the risk that your case will be jeopardized and important evidence will be lost or destroyed. Getting pictures from the accident scene, collecting the names and contact information of any witnesses, gathering records, and having experts examine an accident scene is always easier shortly after the accident instead of later. We have seen many cases where important records have been destroyed, or the accident scene had changed because the accident victim waited too long to report the accident to their lawyer; and by the time their lawyer started investigating the accident, nothing was the same or crucial evidence was lost. We recommend to clients to report their accidents early, and do their own detective work right away. Take pictures, get names and contact information of witnesses. Make sure this important evidence doesn't get lost.

Brian Goldfinger is the directing lawyer of Goldfinger Personal Injury Law. He practices exclusively on behalf of seriously injured accident victims, disability claimants and their families. He is dedicated to his clients and knows how to get them the results they deserve. Call Brian today for your free consultation 416-730-1777.

THIS ARTICLE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE AND DOES NOT CREATE A SOLICITOR-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

If you've been hurt or injured in a car accident in Ontario; there's a complicated set of rules that you need to follow if you're planning on making a claim for your injuries, lost wages, damages for pain & suffering or just getting the insurance company to fix your car. Keep in mind that insurance companies won't pay for any of these things if you don't report the accident. So if you plan on collecting from the insurance company, you will need to report the accident to them. If you don't; you're risking losing out on valuable benefits described in greater detail below; not to mention any monetary damages which you might be entitled to.

Ontario has what's called a "no-fault" set of rules for car accidents. What this means is regardless whose fault the accident is, you're entitled to a wide variety of benefits to assist you when you need it most. These benefits are generally paid for by your own car insurance company. If you didn't have car insurance at the time of the accident, the Insurance Act provides a series of priority rules to set out who is responsible for paying for your benefits.

The benefits which are paid out under Ontario's "no-fault" system are called "accident benefits". Accident benefits are a wide variety of benefits which cover a wide variety of categories. These categories include such things as:

Medical/Rehabilitative Benefits
Income Replacement Benefits
Caregiver Benefits
Housekeeping/Homemaintenance Benefits
Attendant Care Benefits

Medical/Rehabilitative Benefits cover such things as the costs of physiotherapy treatment, chiropractic treatment, massage therapy treatment, gym memberships, assistive devices, aquafit clases, and any other medica/rehabilitative treatment, or devices which are found to be reasonable and necessary for your post accident care. Other devices may include therapeutic beds, wheelchairs, canes, ramps and even modified vehicles to accomodate accident victims. In order to recover these benefits, a health care professional like a physiotherapist, massage therapist or a doctor will have to fill out a "treatment plan". This is a standard form which is submitted to the insurance company, and it's up to them to wither approve or deny the treatment plan. These benefits are NOT unlimited. For what are called "non-catastrophic" cases, you are entitled to $100,000 in benefits over 10 years in med/rehab benefits. In "catastrophic cases", you are entitled to $1,000,000 over the course of your lifetime.

Income replacement benefits are supposed to do exactly what their name says; replace your income if you're unable to work following an accident. You're entitled to 80% of your net pre-accident income which is averaged from your last year's pre-accident earnings, or 26 of the 52 weeks before your accident. The maximum income replacement benefit under a standard auto policy in Ontario is $400/week. Some people chose to pay higher premiums to increase this amount. The problem which most people have in claiming income replacement benefits is that they problems showing that they were working before the accident, or they have problems quantifying their pre-accident income. Claiming these benefits can get particularly tricky if you have access to a private short term or long term disability policy which is designed to supplement your income.

Caregiver benefits are for people who, at the time of the accident were the primary caregiver for a dependant, such as a young child, elderly person or sick person. As a result of the accident, these people are no longer able to care for their dependants. To claim these benefits, you don't have to show that you made any income before the accident. You just have to show that you were a primary caregiver. Caregiver benefits are $250/week, with an additional $50 for each extra dependant.

Housekeeping/Homemaintenance benefits are benefits to replace the accident victim's ability to do chores, housekeeping or homemaintenance. These benefits are for assistance with such things as cleaning the dishes, preparing meals, dusting, mopping, taking out the garbage etc. These benefits are $100/week. In order to be claimed, you need to submit reciepts or invoices to your insurance company. If you don't submit the reciepts, you won't get these benefits, regardless of how hurt you are.

Attendant Care Benefits provide compensation for people, often family members, who perform attendant care services for accident victims after they are injured. These benefits are desinged to pay people for their services in caring for accident victims in activities like grooming, bathing, grocery shopping, brusing hair, putting on clotes, brushing teeth etc, when the accident victim is no longer able to do so as a result of their injuries. In order to recover these benefits, you will need to have a health care professional like an occupational therapist complete what's called a "Form 1" which shows exactly how much attendant care an accident victim requires following their accident. Not all accident victims require the same levels of care. Some accident victims require minimal amounts of care; others require 24hr care. It all depends on the extent of the injuries sustained in the accident and the specific facts of each case.

This "no-fault" system of insurance was introduced for a wide variety of reasons. One of those reasons was to provide accident victims a wide variety of benefits to foster their rehabilitation. Another reason was to reduce the amount of claims being litigated against insurers. Whether or not this system has worked depends on who you ask.

These accident benefits DO NOT cover damages for pain & suffering, or your future loss of income. In order to make a claim for these things, you will have to retain a personal lawyer to bring a tort action. This tort action is advanced against the other driver who might have caused the accident. In order to advance a tort claim, your injuries will need to be "serious and permanent". If your injuries are not found to be "serious and permanent", then you will not be able to advance a claim. This barrier to claiming in tort is called the "threshold". The threshold is subject to judicial interpretation and is defined by the courts. Because courts hear threshold cases on a frequent basis, the judicial interpretation of the threshold is changing, and it all depends on the facts of the case and the way the case is presented. The threshold was implemented by your government. Most accident victims do not know that it exists, until they need a lawyer.

Each accident victim in a motor vehicle claim has 2 cases; a no-fault case against his/her own insurance company; and a tort case against the person/insurance company for the driver who may have caused the accident. Sometimes there's an accident benefit claim and no tort claim; sometimes there's a tort claim and no accident benefits claim; sometimes there's both an accident benefits claim and a tort claim. It all depends on the facts of the case, and the extent of the injuries.

This article is NOT intended on to be legal advice. Consult a lawyer for legal advice. If you need a lawyer, call Brian Goldfinger of Goldfinger Personal Injury Law at 416-730-1777 for your free consultation. This article does NOT create a solicitor-client relationship.

Brian Goldfinger is the directing lawyer of Goldfinger Personal Injury Law. Goldfinger Personal Injury Law is Ontario's premier personal injury law firm, dedicated to assisting Ontario's accident victims and their families. www.goldfingerlaw.com