Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog

Evidence in personal injury cases includes but is not limited to hospital records, ambulance reports, witness statements, police records, photographs of the accident scene, photographs of injuries, medical reports, employer's records, tax returns, OHIP summaries, bank statements and the list goes on.

The problems is that evidence can disappear making an accident victim's case that much more difficult to prove and that much more difficult to quantify. Take the slip and fall case on an icey patch of pavement. If photographs are not taken of the accident scene immediately, it will be nearly impossible to fully appreciate how the accident happened and who is at fault. We can certainly make educated guesses, but knowing with certainty how large the patch of ice was, where it was, and how slippery it was will be very difficult to re-create completely. What about the lay witness who saw the person slip and fall on the ice. If your lawyer does not get their contact information immediately and conduct an interview, it's possible that witness may not be reachable in the future because of an address change, they may have forgotten what happened, or they may simply no longer want to co-operate. What about the injuries to an accident victim? Blood, breaks and bruises heal. If your lawyer does not have photographs of what those injuries are, it will be very difficult for the insurer, judge or jury to fully appreciate the extent of the damages to the accident victim.

Pictures, whether they are of an accident scene or of injuries are powerful evidentiary tools used by all Plaintiff lawyers to help their clients prove their cases. The more pictures which a Plaintiff lawyer has to prove their case, the better. But if accident victims wait too long to contact their lawyer to build their case; evidence gets lost, damaged and photos may be impossible to attain; thereby hurting the accident victim's case.

Goldfinger Personal Injury Law has a knack at getting the best source evidence to better help build your case. Calling Goldfinger Personal Injury Law today can mean the difference between building and preserving a winning case; and losing what could have otherwise been a sucessful case. Call Goldfinger Personal Injury Law today for your free consultation with a lawyer 416-730-1777.1-877-730-1777/info@goldfingerlaw.com

THIS ARTICLE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE OR DOES IT CONSTITUTE A LAWYER-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

Car insurance is meant to compensate and protect drivers from any loss or damage arising in the use or operation of a motor vehicle. Typically, if you are an at fault driver in an accident, your car insurance will pick up the bill for the damage which ensued. Driving without insurance or driving an uninsured car is against the law. You will likely be fined for doing this.

But what happens in cases where two cars are involved in an accident and neither car or operators have car insurance? What happens to pedestrians who don't have a car and don't have insurance that are hit by cars without insurance? What happens to bicycle riders without car insurance who are struck by cars without car insurance? How do these accident victims get compensation for their injuries if there is no source of insurance to claim from?

The government of Ontario has set aside a fund of money to compensate accident victims without car insurance, who are struck by cars without car insurance. It's called the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund( http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/insurance/auto/mvacf/). It is meant to be a fund of last resort for accident victims who have been victimized by drivers operating their cars without insurance. The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund will compensate accident victims up to $200,000 in tort damages which include pain and suffering. They will also step in as a fund of last resort to pay accident benefits in the event there is no other source of insurance to claim such benefits.

There are many Ontario Court decisions citing examples where the Claims Fund is required to get involved, and where the Claims Fund does not have to get involved. Ontario Courts have held that the Claims Fund is a fund of LAST RESORT. There are cases whereby the insurer of a car that was not found to have any fault in an accident, was still required to pay out the damages for the ensuing accident, simply because they were involved in the accident in one way, shape or form; regardless of liability. http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2009/2009canlii29207/2009canlii29207.html
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2007/2007onca659/2007onca659.html
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2001/2001canlii24003/2001canlii24003.html

These cases are confusing and they often involve complex sets of facts. Sorting out the insurance issues involving these cases takes time, and can take months, sometimes years to sort out. While it's unfortunate for the accident victim to have to wait for the insurance issues to be sorted out; it's a necessary and a very important step in the proceeding.

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.