Articles Posted in Damages

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Our law firm sees some very seriously injured accident victims and disability claimants. Many of our long term disability clients who have cases against large multi national insurers such as Manulife, SunLife, Great West Life, Standard Life, Desjardins, Industrial Alliance, SSQ, Equitable Life etc; want to know how an insurer can place a dollar figure on their disability and inability to work for the rest of their lives.

For a disability claimant, the answer to this question can be very simple. If I can’t work for the rest of my life, then naturally, I should be entitled to MILLIONS of dollars worth of compensation. Afterall, my pain and suffering is immeasurable.

One of the most common misconceptions in long term disability cases is that claimants are entitled to damages to compensate them for their pain and suffering. This is NOT true. At our Law Firm, we refer to LTD cases as “four corner” cases. That means that your damages, or benefits, are limited to what the four corners of the policy provide for. If you have a bad policy, which, based on the wording of the policy will not properly compensate you in disability benefits; then your award will reflect that.

There are some situations where awards in long term disability cases can fall outside of the four corners of the policy.
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Hey Brian! As a lawyer, you must hear some crazy stories. (TRUE).

You probably have lots of strangers calling you every day, wanting to discuss their legal problems (TRUE).

What are some of the most commonly asked questions of you (GOOD QUESTION).

As an injury lawyer, we hear of, and see lots of crazy things; lots of sad things; and lots of things that you just can’t make up. Some of these stories, I’m not at liberty to share with the general public.

Regardless of the severity of the injury, one thing that ties most clients together are their questions and concerns for their respective cases. From Toronto to London to Peterborough, client questions are generally the same. Just shows you that geography, race, culture, creed; it doesn’t really matter. People are people, and they share many commonalities regardless of your background, upbringing, or the mechanism and nature of the injury.

So, without further a due, here are some of the most commonly asked questions we here from inquiries to Goldfinger Injury Lawyers.
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Many of our clients cannot return to work after serious accidents.

The form of accident is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if your accident was caused by bike, car, pedestrian knock down, boat, fall or otherwise.

It doesn’t matter if your injury is catastrophic, is a brain injury, spinal cord injury, ankle fracture, chronic pain, psychological injury or any of the above.

The purpose of this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post is to discuss and examine what you can do for money when you cannot return to work on account of your accident related impairments.

Firstly, it’s important to better understand how the Courts and how insurers quantify income loss claims. Many clients tell me that they’re high income earners, like having high, CEO style six figure salaries with benefits packages. Then, when we request their tax returns, they show little to no income. Go figure.

Courts require evidence of your income loss claim. The best evidence to prove income loss is what’s reported on your tax returns. In some cases, this is the only evidence that matters. In fact, if you should know that whatever you don’t report, you cannot claim. That means if you work at a cash business, and you deliberately conceal earned cash income on your tax returns without reporting it to revenue Canada, the Courts will not re-reimburse you for that income loss (save in exceptional circumstances).ankle.jpg

Basically, you cannot have the tax benefit and NOT report income in a cash business, and later seek to claim that money from an insurer as reportable income later on as your case develops. It doesn’t work that way. The law doesn’t let you suck and blow at the same time. In fact, the laws of physics don’t allow you to suck and blow at the same time. Go ahead. Try it.
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This week I had the pleasure chatting with a kind Detective from the Toronto Police Service in the lobby of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. The CICB is where victims of crime can go to get compensation for their injuries resulting from a crime. So, if you’ve been shot or stabbed, you may claim compensation from the CICB. Our office can assist you with the hearing. Hearings take place in a majority of these case. That means you need to go to Court.

If you were to sue the wrong doer, chances are you wouldn’t be able to recover very much money because most wrong doers are judgment proof (unless the wrong doer is a known multimillionaire). That means that they have no quantifiable assets. A stack of money under a pillow doesn’t count. The CICB awards victims of crimes with real money for their injuries, making these cases worth pursuing from a financial perspective.

Back to the story of the Detective and I. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

We were sharing war stories, chatting about the hit TV Show “The Wire“, along with some of the crazy situations we’ve both encountered.

It was an absolute pleasure hearing the perspective from a Detective. Did you know that it’s the police officers who prepare the warrants and all of the legal paperwork which is later relied on by the Crown to prosecute a case? Unlike in the United States where the Attorney General and their lawyers and law clerks prepare this sort of paper work; here it’s the officers themselves who do it.

These officers have no substantive legal training. They’re trained to be cops, not lawyers/paper pushers. Yet, their paper work is legal, and it’s scrutinized by Defence Lawyers and Judges alike. Their paperwork is so important to advancing the Crown’s position. Seems like an unfair fight having paper work prepared by a police officer torn to shreds by an experienced Defence Lawyer along with their legal team. But I’m no expert when it comes to criminal law. Personal Injury Law is what we do best.
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Pre-Trial is one of the last steps in a personal injury case before it actually goes to trial.

The Pre-Trial, aside from the actual trial itself, is the most important step of your case which requires judicial intervention. That means that the Court is actively involved in this part of your case, unlike other parts of your case.

An examination for discovery does NOT require Judge. A mediation does NOT require a Judge. An independent medical-legal examination does NOT require a Judge.

But a Pre-Trial requires a Judge. Without a Judge, a Pre-Trial can’t happen. (save in Toronto/Ottawa and Windsor where Masters can conduct Pre-Trials in Simplified Procedure cases).

So, you might be wondering. What exactly is a Pre-Trial?
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When one of our clients is asked how much they think their case for pain and suffering is worth, they will often tell you that it’s worth $1,000,000 or more. It’s understandable why anyone would put such a high price on their own individual pain and suffering. Can you really put a price on these damages?

Canadian Courts have.

Unfortunately, the system for quantifying damages for pain and suffering is unfair to accident victims in Canada. Why? Because it’s impossible, at law, anywhere in Canada, to recover $1,000,000 or more for you pain and suffering.

It’s this way because back in 1978, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on three decisions, commonly referred to as “the trilogy“.

In those cases, the Supreme Court established a cap (or limit) for damages for pain and suffering. Back in 1978, that cap was placed at $100,000. Today, with inflation, that cap is around $350,000. This is the absolute MAXIMUM which you can recover for your pain and suffering in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada established this cap because they did not want our civil justice system, turning in to a free for all legal system like you see in many parts of the United States.

So, even at trial, if a jury awards you $1,000,000 for damages for your pain and suffering, the Judge will then limit that award to $350,000 or below. The Judge would probably instruct the Jury to return to the deliberation room and come back with another figure for damages for pain and suffering.
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Lots of people think that all lawyers do all day is talk. It’s a a common misconception. Perhaps, there are some lawyers who spend their entire days talking; but not me.

The majority of my day is spent listening. I listen to Judges. I listen to Masters. I listen to other lawyers. I listen to insurance adjusters. But, most importantly, I listen to my clients and to prospective clients telling me their stories.

Every day I’m told from my clients how they’re struggling managing their pain; how they’re struggling making ends meet; how they’re feeling down and sad since their accident; and how their accident has turned their life upsidown.

Accident victims have lots to say about their case, how it happened, and what their injuries are. Their testimony is important, and can be very persuasive to insurers, judges and juries. But, sometimes, the MOST PERSUASIVE evidence isn’t verbal; it’s written and hidden in the scribbles. What do I mean by that? Read on and find out.
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I just wanted to begin this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post by first making quick reference to one of my previous entries. It’s the one dealing with how the OPP’s privacy legislation can impact your case, which was published on July 30, 2013. You can check it out in the Archives of the Blog here.

Our office received 2 OPP Motor Vehicle Accident reports last week; along with the police officer’s notes, driver statements, witness statements etc. from 2 different accidents. We paid around $150 for each set of records. That’s $300 for all you math majors out there.

The purpose really for requesting these records is to find out who’s the bad guy, where they live, their license plate # and other information so that we can track these wrongdoers down, and conduct any criminal or offense investigations in relation to this particular accident, or previous accidents. You also want this information in order to get the address for service of the Statement of Claim. You can’t serve a claim on a person without an address with an Order for the Court for Substituted Service.

What did we get from the OPP?
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Full disclosure. I’ve seen first how working long hours can impair your judgment.

Doctors, Residents and Medical Students have ludicrous call demands/schedules at teaching hospitals. You should see them post call! Lawyers, Clerks and Articling Students have ridiculous deadlines to meet and pull all nights all too often. You should see them the morning after the all-niter. Taxi Drivers work LONG shifts day after day (and their job is to drive others). Police officers, paramedics and firemen also have some pretty crazy hours.

But the story about the unpaid intern, Andy Ferguson in Alberta is no joke and speaks to the dangers of working LONG LONG hours then driving home.

First, our thoughts of everyone here at our law office are with Andy Ferguson’s family right now. In case you haven’t heard, Andy was a 22 year old UNPAID intern with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He was completing an internship in order to graduate. He needed to complete a certain amount of hours in order to get his degree. Andy’s internship was at a radio station owned by Astral Media called “The Bear“, a pop rock radio station in Edmonton.

Andy was asked to intern the overnight shift. He didn’t want to. He had just completed 3 previous overnight nights, and was now asked to work a 4th. He was told that if he wanted to complete his practicum, he would just shut and do what he was told.

Andy was NOT happy, as evinced in a text messages to his girlfriend. He wrote to her “F*ck this place“. In a draft email to his professor at the University, which never got sent, he wrote “it would be nice if the people I worked under showed a little more appreciation and respect for myself“.
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And now a letter from the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Newsbag. It’s from James in London, Ontario. James asks:

“Hey Goldfinger. Love the Blog. Long time reader, first time inquirer. I gotta know your take on the Zimmerman case. Not guilty? Also, do you think the Toronto Blue Jays are gonna make the World Series? Let me know.”

Thanks for your email James.

The George Zimmerman trial had legs. It was followed by all major news outlets. Even though the trial took place miles and miles away, it was headline news here in Ontario. The case had all sorts of undertones: race, human rights, the right to bear arms, the right to self defence, age, profiling, community safety, intent to harm vs. intent to protect.
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