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In law school, lawyers are taught to sue parties with deep pockets.

Suing a Defendant who is without assets will net you a limited or a nil return. You can’t get blood from a stone.

Understanding this concept is important to understanding how car accident cases work in Ontario. But there is much more than meets the eye.

In this “nutshell” series of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, we take a quick examination of how exactly car accident cases w0rk in Ontario, and what to expect.

Ontario has a very strange system of car insurance. When explained to a lay person, Ontario’s no fault accident benefit and tort system for car accident claims sounds backwards:

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*UPDATED RELEASE (July 31, 2018)

Brian Goldfinger’s Legal Advertising Case Concluded

TORONTO: A resolution reached on June 20, 2018 between ‎lawyer Brian Goldfinger and the regulator of Ontario’s legal profession has resulted in new case law that will aid lawyers in navigating the rules that govern lawyer advertising.

A resolution agreement that was initially presented to a panel of adjudicators at the Law Society of Ontario Tribunal on June 20, 2018, stated that some of Mr. Goldfinger’s advertising constituted “misconduct” under the Law Society’s rules, but that it was neither dishonest nor intentionally deceptive.

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The purpose of this entry of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog is to focus on a rather long personal injury case called Davies v. The Corporation of the Municipality of Clarington.

This is the case about a Via Trail derailment on what should have been a routine trip from Toronto to Montreal on November 23, 1999.

100+ passengers claimed injuries by way of class action.

Liability was sorted out by way of class action by way of trial in 2007.

But what wasn’t sorted out was the quantification of damages for one injured passenger; Christopher Zuber. Injuries, causation and the quantification of damages was the focus of this trial.

Mr. Zuber’s personal injury case in its entirety lasted around 17 years.

The trial took around 26 weeks (approximately 107 days to complete). It is believed this was the longest single personal injury jury trial in Ontario Court history (but we have no real concrete stats on it).

Here are some comments from the Honourable Justice Edwards about this case which speak for themselves on what it takes to suceed in a personal injury case, along with the state of modern personal injury litigation in Ontario. These comments are worth noting for any personal injury lawyer, or for any member of the general public with an active personal injury case on the go in Ontario. The comments of the Honourable Justice Edwards are also important to understanding how personal injury cases work, and are assessed in Ontario. Keep in mind, these are direct quotes from the Judge in this decision.

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One of Brian Goldfinger’s very first personal injury cases which drew media attention was a dog bite case out of Toronto.

This tragic case was covered  by the Globe & Mail. The headline of the newspaper read “Man charged in fatal pitbull attack on dog“.

The dog attack took place a decade ago, and to their credit, the Globe & Mail article was updated on April 26, 2018 (responsible journalism); likely to include the following paragraph reflecting changes in the law surrounding pit bull ownership in Ontario:

“Pit bulls have been banned in Ontario since November, 2005. However, dogs that were in the province before the ban may be kept, provided the owner has them sterilized. They must be leashed and muzzled at all times when in public.”

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The word trust, in a non legal sense is defined as “the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.”

In the context of a personal injury case, there are times where trust can be a good thing; and times when it can be a very bad thing.

The purpose of this week’s edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post is to give you some first hand examples from Brian Goldfinger on when it’s a good time to trust, and when it’s not such a good time to trust in the context of your personal injury case.

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Toronto has seen a spike in pedestrian/car and bike/car accidents. Toronto has also seen a spike in fatality claims arising from such accidents. Vision Zero is a multi-national road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic. Vision Zero has been implemented in Toronto, but its objectives have not been met. The goals are ambitious, and failure to reach those goals is a “good try“. Harsher critics would call it a failure.

Fatality claims on Toronto Roads have hit such a crisis point that City Council voted unanimously to double this year’s road safety budget in light of recent cyclist and pedestrian deaths and public outcry. An additional $22 million in annual municipal spending will go towards accomplishing Vision Zero goals in the City of Toronto. This more than doubles the initial budget of Vision Zero, which had been set at around 21.3 million.

We can all agree that nobody should be seriously injured, or killed while using our streets either as a motorist, cyclist, or pedestrian. Our streets should be safe; and the fear of getting run over by a car shouldn’t run rampant in your mind when out and about trying to enjoy city life in Toronto.

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My name is Brian Goldfinger. I’m a personal injury lawyer. My law firm Goldfinger Injury Lawyers helps accident victims, disability claimants, and their loved ones fight insurance companies to get the benefits and compensation which they deserve after a serious accident, illness or injury.

My law firm only acts on behalf of injured and disabled people. We do NOT act on behalf of insurance companies. The only area of law which we practice is Plaintiff side personal injury law. We do not practice in any other areas. Goldfinger Injury Lawyers serves the province of Ontario with meeting offices in Toronto, London, Peterborough and Kitchener. If you can’t make it to us, we would be happy to visit with you for a free initial consultation.

If you are reading this latest installment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post, you likely have some questions about long term disability claims and how they work.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 20, 2018)

TORONTO: A resolution reached today between ‎lawyer Brian Goldfinger and the regulator of Ontario’s legal profession will aid lawyers in navigating the rules that govern lawyer advertising.

The resolution states that Mr. Goldfinger’s advertising constituted “misconduct” under the Law Society of Ontario’s rules, but that it was neither dishonest nor intentionally deceptive.

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My name is Brian Goldfinger. I’m a personal injury lawyer.

My law firm, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers, represents injured accident victims, disability claimants and their loved ones across Ontario.

We have meeting offices in Toronto, London, Peterborough, Kitchener-Waterloo, and soon to be Owen Sound too! More on our expansion to Owen Sound in days to come.

Recently, I attended at a private mediation on very serious car accident case in London, ON. In dispute was everything under the sun including but not limited to:

  • Liability (whose fault was the car accident)
  • Damages (how bad are the Plaintiff’s damages)
  • Causation (are the Plaintiff’s damages directly attributable to the subject car accident)
  • Income loss & loss of competitive advantage in the workplace
  • Past and Future Care Costs
  • Attendant Care Costs
  • Housekeeping & Home maintenance costs
  • Are the Plaintiff’s injuries catastrophic?
  • What is the value of the Family Law Act Claims?
  • Will the injuries meet the threshold?
  • If so, will those injuries surpass the $37,983.33 deductible for pain and suffering claims general damages under $126,610.07​
  • Payment of Non-Earner Benefits
  • Payment of Attendant Care Benefits
  • Which disbursements are assessible, and which aren’t?
  • How much interest is owing and at which interest rate?
  • What is the applicable discount rate for payments made in to the future?
  • What are the appropriate set offs which the tort insurer and accident benefit insurer are entitled to; if any?

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It’s not often that the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog comments on cases decided at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

The reason being is that car accident cases, slip and falls, long term disability cases, motorcycle accidents etc. are all dealt with before the Ontario Superior Court; not the Human Rights Tribunal.

But ever so often, cases heard at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario intercede with cases relevant to the field of personal injury law in Ontario.

Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board is one of those cases.We here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers believe this to be a very important decision for employees, employers, insurance companies and lawyers alike.

In 2006, the Province of Ontario passed a law that ENDED an employer’s right to terminate an employee at the age of 65. This allowed people to work much longer, and ended discriminatory practices based on age to people over 65.

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