Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: July 22, 2026

July 1 2026 Changes to Car Insurance

On July 1st, 2026, the Ontario Government allowed all car insurers to change what benefits were benefits came standard under an ordinary car insurance policy. These changes did not benefit your average consumer. These changes benefited car insurers because they could ask for the same amount of money in premiums, yet be on the hook to pay out far less in benefits under that same policy.

Here are some of the benefits which used to exist under a standard car insurance policy before July 1st 2026, but were eliminated thereafter:

$185/week Non Earner Benefit x 104 weeks = $19,240 eliminated under standard policy

$400/week Income Replacement Benefit x 104 weeks = $41,600 eliminated under standard police

$3,000/month x 24 months = $72,000 eliminated under standard policy

Cost of Funeral = $6,000 Max Benefit eliminated under standard policy

Death Coverage for Surviving Spouse = $25,000 eliminated under standard policy

Death Coverage for Dependant Children = $10,000 per child eliminated under standard policy

These are some serious savings for Ontario Car Insurance Companies! These benefits were standard under a run of the mill car insurance policy. These benefits were available to people who didn’t have their own car insurance, but who were involved in car accidents themselves. Think of people like:

Pedestrians who were hit by a car through no fault of their own
Seat Belted Passengers who were involved in a car accident through no fault of their own
Cyclists who were hit by a car through no fault of their own

Before July 1st, 2026, all of the benefits detailed above were available to these people, whether or not they had car insurance, or not, under a standard auto policy.

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Published on: July 14, 2026

Goldfinger on Experts in a Personal Injury Case

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Everyone has a person in their lives who thinks that they know it all. I’ve met some very smart people in my life. But I’ve never met someone who knows everything, about everything. In fact, the smartest, most brilliant people I’ve met know exactly when they’re outside of their depth of understanding or knowledge. When that happens, they defer to the experts and surround themselves with people who are more knowledgeable than they are.

The concept of seeking out an expert for comment isn’t novel. It’s a practice that’s used in all sorts of fields.

We see developers engage in experts to help them build large construction projects. The developer will retain an architect, a structural engineer, a traffic engineer, an environmental engineer, an arborist, a planner, a lawyer and the list goes on, all to ensure that the development gets built to standard.

A professional sports team will hire a nutritionist, a psychologist, a strength and conditioning coach, specialist physicians, all to make sure that their team performs as best it can.

In a personal injury case, your lawyer will engage with, and retain experts to make sure that your case is optimized for success and is presented in the best way possible before a Judge and Jury should the matter proceed to trial.

Your personal injury lawyer alone sometimes isn’t enough to “win” a personal injury case. It takes an entire team to get the job done. Here are a few “experts” who your lawyer might engage with or retain in order to maximize the success of your case:

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Published on: July 8, 2026

Sports Injury Cases in Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Some of the most interesting cases we see are sports injury cases. But, these are also some of the most difficult cases which Goldfinger Injury Lawyers sees as well.

Every little factual detail in these cases matters. Splitting hairs is what these cases are all about.

Often, in these sport cases, the nature of the injuries takes a back seat to liability (who is at fault and how the accident happened). The circumstances leading up to the accident, and the accident itself are very important. It’s not uncommon for the parties to agree on damages; but to disagree on almost every point dealing with liability.

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Published on: July 1, 2026

The Tort of Public Misfeasance

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

This edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog addresses the viability of a civil tort claim against the OPP and/or the Crown arising from a poorly done police investigation into a fatal car crash.

The Tort of Public Misfeasance

What the Tort Requires

The leading case is the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Odhavji Estate v. Woodhouse (2003). That case arose after police officers fatally shot a young man during an attempted arrest. The shooting triggered an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit, and the officers involved were required by statute to cooperate by, among other things, remaining separated, making themselves available for interviews, and producing their notes. The victim’s family alleged that the officers deliberately failed to comply with those obligations and that senior police officials knowingly failed to ensure they did.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that those allegations, if proven, were capable of establishing the tort of misfeasance in public office. The Court explained that public misfeasance is a narrow tort intended to protect citizens from the deliberate misuse of governmental authority. It is not enough to show that a public official made a mistake, exercised poor judgment, or carried out public duties incompetently.

The Court identified two essential elements of the tort.

First, the public official must deliberately engage in unlawful conduct while exercising public powers or performing public duties. the Court confirmed that “unlawful conduct” can include the deliberate failure to perform a mandatory statutory duty.
Second, the plaintiff must establish the required mental element. The public official must know that the conduct is unlawful and know that it is likely to harm the plaintiff, or be recklessly indifferent to both the unlawfulness of the conduct and the likelihood of harm.

That distinction is important. Mere negligence, carelessness, poor judgment, or a misunderstanding in the course of police conduct is not enough.

How Courts Have Applied Odhavji

Subsequent decisions demonstrate that courts have applied Odhavji (2003) cautiously. The mental element remains the main difficulty, and courts are reluctant to let allegations of negligence be reframed as bad faith without concrete supporting evidence.

Manoharan v. Taylor (2025) illustrates the kind of allegations that may satisfy that requirement. The plaintiffs alleged that an OPP officer investigating their eligibility for cannabis retail licences approached the investigation with the predetermined intention of ensuring that the licences would be refused. Rather than conducting an independent investigation, the officer allegedly repeated serious organized-crime allegations supplied by another officer without attempting to verify them, despite the absence of corroborating evidence. Those allegations later unravelled before the Licence Appeal Tribunal, which found in the plaintiffs’ favour.

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Published on: June 25, 2026

Poor Police Investigations and Personal Injury Claims

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Police investigations, prosecutorial decisions, and regulatory functions are typically carried out in the public interest, even though they may significantly affect individual interests.

Courts are generally reluctant to find that those public functions meet the criteria of private law duties owed to individuals affected by those functions

For example, a victim of crime usually can’t sue a Crown prosecutor in negligence because a decision not to prosecute weakened a later civil action.

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Published on: June 18, 2026

Changes to Accident Benefit Laws after a Car Accident July 1 2026

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

One of my jobs as a personal injury lawyer is to explain to our clients how the law works, and how the law applies to their case.

Most people have ideas about how the law should work. But, those ideas aren’t based on law, fact, or anything else. Rather their ideas about how the law works are based on feelings, or something they’ve heard in passing from a friend, colleague, or family member (usually not a lawyer). People want to believe what they want to believe. They have preconceived notions about how car accident law, and Ontario’s laws surrounding compensation should work. This is based on what they perceive to be “fair” and how they perceive the system to operate without having done any research at all.

The biggest misconception about car accident law in Ontario is that it’s fair.

The cold, hard, truth is that the laws surrounding car accident law, and the way which Courts compensate accident victims in Ontario is NOT FAIR AT ALL.

I’ve never heard anyone say that laws were meant to be fair, in particular, man made laws.

In fact the laws were drafted in such a way as to minimize the exposure of car insurers as much as possible so that they can maximize their profits. In turn, those savings which the insurers presumably were making on lower exposure were supposed to be passed along to the consumer in the form of lower auto insurance premiums. This pipedream never happened. What we see instead is that everyday Ontario drivers are paying more in car insurance premiums; and getting less in terms of coverage and benefits. This is shrinkflation, only it’s harder to see and to understand because insurance is not a physical product that we can taste, see or touch. Nor is it a product which we purchase everyday at a store, or online. Insurance is a product which people use everyday in the background, but hope to never have to call upon in the event of an unfortunate accident. It’s for those reasons that people remain unfamiliar with how it works. I tell people all the time that buying insurance, and making a claim isn’t like buying a pair of shoes or a litre of milk at a store. It’s much more complicated than that.

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Published on: June 11, 2026

When is a Car Accident treated as a Car Accident?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

When is a car accident, a car accident?

This seems like a silly question, which shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Why is it so important if it’s a car accident, or not?

There is potentially $1,000,000+ at stake if it’s deemed to be a car accident, or not. And here’s why.

In Ontario, we have a complex system of no fault accident benefits, which are only available if the accident is deemed a car accident (or an accident arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle).

If it’s not deemed a car accident, then the injured accident victim will NOT have access to accident benefits. This means that they will not be eligible for an income replacement benefit ($400/week), attendant care benefit ($3,000/month), or paid rehab benefits through a car insurer. Accident benefits provide interim support to injured accident victims. If the injuries ar very serious, they might be deemed catastrophic, which will allow the injured accident victim to access over $1,000,000 in accident benefits.

So, this seemingly mundane question of whether or not this was a car accident or not is a potential “million dollar question“. As such, you can see why lawyers put so much effort into answering these questions. There’s a lot at stake for the Applicant (injured accident victim), and the Respondent (the insurer).

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Published on: June 3, 2026

My car insurance pays for an accident I didn’t cause? By why?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

I guess I’m what you would call an industry insider when it comes to car accident cases.

I’m an industry insider because I have a lot of experience seeing and litigating personal injury cases arising from motor vehicle accidents (cars, SUVs, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrian collision knockdown cases etc.).

How the law works when it comes to personal injury cases is normal for a lawyer like me. But not so normal for a person who doesn’t know how the law works, or who has no experience with car accident or personal injury cases.

One of the things I share with my clients, and with prospective clients is that the law surrounding personal injury cases involving a motor vehicle is very odd; and very unfair. Coming to terms with these strange and one sided laws is difficult for most people. But, there is little a person can do to change the laws, other than lobby for government for change.

The reaction I get from people when I tell them how the law works is almost always the same. Paraphrased common reactions to these laws include:

That’s really messed up
Why did they they do that?
WTF?!?!
How can they get away with that?
This seems really unfair
This is criminal
Why am I getting screwed (again)
But I didn’t do anything wrong, so why am I being punished?
Will this effect my car insurance premiums?

What sort of circumstances prompt these types of reactions for car accident cases in Ontario?

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Published on: May 28, 2026

Is Going to Court as Glamourous as it Looks on TV?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

I was sitting with a friend on a 3 hour flight. We’ve known each other for around 10 years or so. In the time knowing each other, I can’t recall ever speaking with him about work. This is largely because of the privilege which attaches to the lawyer-client relationship. We don’t blab about the ins and out of our clients cases. We take the privacy and confidentiality of our clients cases, and their circumstances very seriously. But, another part of the equation that I don’t speak with him very much about work is because I never thought that he would be all that interested with the ins and outs of a private personal injury practice. I didn’t consider that things which I don’t find very interesting like freakish fact patterns surrounding liability; tricks which insurers play on innocent accident victims; lies which people make under oath; poor police work when investigating accidents; or the ups and downs of litigation can be interesting for some people.

On that flight, my friend wanted to know how much time I spent in Court. This is a common question I field from many people. Naturally, when people who aren’t familiar with the legal system think about lawyers, they think about going to Court and trying a case before a Judge and Jury. But, if you are a solicitor (a lawyer who doesn’t practice litigation), then you aren’t going to Court at all. Solicitors are lawyers who facilitate transactions. They are the ones who draft wills, facilitate commercial transactions, do real estate deals, loans, mortgages, promissory notes, immigration work, draft contracts, mergers and acquisitions, international trade agreements etc.

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Published on: May 26, 2026

Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Mailbag

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Every year, we dedicate an entry of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog to reader questions. These questions are from our trusted readers. So, with today’s instalment, we will dip into our mailbag to answer some of your questions. We aren’t able to get to all of your questions in a single entry, so only a few questions are addressed. If you have any questions moving forward, reach out to us at info@goldfingerlaw.com or on “X” @GoldfingerLaw or your can call us with your questions as well.

1. Is the money which I receive in my personal injury settlement taxable? Do I have to notify my accountant about the settlement?

We aren’t accountants at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers. We’re personal injury lawyers. Accordingly, we can’t give tax advice. If you want tax advise, please consult with an accountant. Having said that, we can tell you that settlement funds from a personal injury settlement art non-taxable. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay HST on legal fees. HST applies to the legal fees which are charged to you, and this will be reflected on your account from your personal injury lawyer.

2. Do I have to tell ODSP or Ontario Works about my personal injury settlement?

Yes you do! In fact, this is very important to do; particularly if you want to continue receiving ODSP or Ontario Works benefits. If you don’t tell ODSP or Ontario Works about your settlement, and the find out that you’ve come in to a large sum of money; these institutions will likely demand a reimbursement of the funds paid out to you and simultaneously terminate payment of benefits until such time as they’ve been paid out what’s owed to them. Often, these institutions will require that you sign an Authorization and Direction to Reimburse; which requires that you or your personal injury lawyer pay them the amount of benefits which have been paid out to you since the date of the accident. This is normal practice, and it’s why it’s important to notify your case manager about the settlement.

3. How long will it take to get my personal injury case settled?

This is the #1 question which we receive from readers and from past and current clients. All of our personal injury lawyers would love to snap their fingers and settle a case on command. Unfortunately, that’s not the way which personal injury cases work. The vast majority of personal injury cases take months, if not years, in order to get settled. That’s the cold hard truth. We aren’t talking about days or weeks. We are talking about many months and years. There’s a lot of reasons for this. For starters, if you are talking about an accident benefit case (car accident, non tort), then the accident benefit insurer is statutorily bared from settling the case within one year from the date of the motor vehicle accident. Any settlement agreement entered into before the first year has expired won’t be legally valid. But, this only applies to accident benefit cases. This does not explain why it can take so long for non-accident benefit personal injury cases to settle. There are a lot of reasons why cases take time. For starters, healing from a serious accident takes time. Chances are your injuries won’t plateau for at least a year, if not longer. If your case settles at the year mark, but you need surgery for those same injuries which you incurred in the accident, the the value of the settlement will not reflect the damages incurred given the pending surgery, recovery time, time loss from work, rehab costs etc. Another reason applies to coverage issues, which can take a long time not only to get sorted out, but for insurers to come to grips that they will be on the hook for. When insurers don’t agree as to a funding formula, personal injury cases take even longer. How about when liability, causation or damages are all disputed? The case won’t settle. How about when there is surveillance of the Plaintiff which causes issues as to the Plaintiff’s credibility? This is yet another wrinkle which will delay any potential settlement. How about cases where there is no insurance at all, and the matter has to be claimed either from the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund (in the case of an uninsured car accident), or personally against a Defendant in a personal injury case other than from a car accident.

4. How much will my case settle for?

It’s true that approximately 99% of personal injury cases settle outside of Court. But, what’s unknown is for how much. Some cases settle for ZERO, because the cases have no merit, or because the Plaintiff sees too much risk in pushing the case further along; or the Plaintiff simply does not wish to pursue the case any further. It’s impossible for a personal injury lawyer to predict with mathematical certainty how much, or for how little the case will settle. Clients ask for their personal injury lawyers to be fortune tellers and predict the future. Unfortunately, law school does not teach personal injury lawyers to predict outcomes in a crystal ball. Every case is unique and every case presents its own set of challenges. An experienced personal injury lawyer will move the case forward as best as possible and deal with the hurdles presented to them in order to maximize the compensation on behalf of their client as best as possible.

5. Will the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup next year?

They are oh so bad! Yet, they seem to be very popular, and very polarizing with NHL fans. If you can say one thing about the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they’re due! They haven’t won since the Moon Landing (1969), so you gotta think that the time is right. Right? Even a broken clock is right 2x per day, so you gotta think that luck will be on their side and they will pull one out for old times sake. Yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup next year. And, if I’m wrong, then so be it. Maybe the year after that, or after that, or after that (put that on repeat since 1967. This is the sign of a true Be-Leafer!)

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