Evidence

Published on: February 1, 2023

Slip and Fall Cases in Ontario

It’s rather chilly in Ontario, with temperatures getting around the negative double digits.

When it gets this cold, ice forms and hardens significantly, making for difficult walking conditions on both public sidewalks, and private driveways and walkways.

Despite the poor walking conditions, there are still some daredevils out there who defy the cold temperatures and dare to wear sandals, flip flops, crocs or other footwear not associated with winter conditions.

So, what happens after a slip and fall case in Ontario? How are these cases started and built up by personal injury lawyers in order to get their clients the compensation which they deserve.

Cases are built upon facts and evidence.

This of these as the primary ingredients to a successful lawsuit. Without evidence, the case is going nowhere fast. You personal injury lawyer cannot simply conjure up evidence out of nowhere. And neither can you. Evidence in favour of your case either exists, or it does not. Some evidence is easy to gather. Other forms of evidence are not, and may need some form of higher power (like a Judge’s Order) to compel production.

Here’s an example of evidence which is easy for your personal injury lawyer to gather and to produce. Things like:

Clinical Notes and Records from the Hospital you attended after your slip and fall accident
Clinical Notes and Records from your Family Doctor or Nurse Practitioner, or the Walk In Clinic you attended after your slip and fall accident
Clinical Notes and Records from your Physiotherapist, Massage Therapist, Chiropractor or Occupational Therapist who you saw after your slip and fall accident
Pre-Accident and Post Accident tax returns which establish your base line pre-accident income, to show that you sustained a loss of income as a result of your slip and fall accident
Your Pre-Accident and Post Accident decoded OHIP Summary showing the doctor(s) you saw; and the frequency you saw those doctors before your slip and fall accident vs. the doctor(s) you saw, and the frequency you saw those doctors post slip and fall accident
Your employment file
Your ODSP File
Your CPP File
Your short term and/or long term disability benefits file
Your collateral benefits file
Your LHIN file
Photographs of your injuries, along with the ice patch which caused your fall (if you took any such photos and preserved them)
The ambulance call report, or the records from the police or fire department if they came to the scene of the accident to assist
Weather records for the days prior to your fall, the date of loss, and the days post slip and fall accident

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Published on: July 5, 2022

Evidence in Personal Injury Cases (Ontario)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada released a decision which upheld key protections for sexual assault victims. The decision is R. v. J. J.

In the wake of the Me Too Revolution, Canadian parliament changed the Criminal Code to establish more protections for sexual assault victims.

Let’s say an accused has text messages, or emails, or some other form of communication directly from the complainant. Those messages may impact the dignity of the complainant. Instead of simply being used at trial in their defence, an accused must disclose these records and a pretrial must be held in order to determine what records, can, or cannot be used at trial. It’s entirely in the Judge’s hands. If the Judge determines that the records are not relevant and will hurt the complainant’s dignity, they cannot be used.

The second major change was to give the complainants the right to argue at a hearing (outside of the course of the trial) that their privacy outweighs the importance of the records. Again, it’s up to a Judge to make the final determination of the privacy rights of the complainant outweigh the rights to a defendant using all evidence at his/her disposal in order to defend the charges.

This is a very difficult balancing act. The rights, dignity and privacy of the complainant are important. A complainant should not be humiliated on the stand or hurt twice as a result of stepping forward and testifying at trial. Complainants should not be intimidated to step forward and have their voices heard. I think we can all agree with that.

At the same time, a Defendant has the right to a fair defence. If an accused cannot use all of the evidentiary tools at his/her disposal in order to combat the charges, then are we giving that Defendant a fair and meaningful opportunity to a defense a trial. Or are we just giving them a perceived fair shake while limiting the tools at their disposal?

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Published on: May 26, 2021

Your personal injury lawyer should believe in you!

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

You have to believe in your own case. If you don’t believe in it, then who will?

If you don’t care, then who will?

If you don’t try to help yourself, then who will.

While this may sound like self respect or motivational mumbo jumbo; it’s true!

A good personal injury lawyer will believe in you and believe in your case. If they are taking the case on a contingency fee basis; meaning don’t pay anything unless the case settles; then the personal injury lawyer ought not be investing his/her time in the case to begin with.

If the personal injury lawyer doesn’t see the case as a “Winner“, then why are they wasting their time and resources on a case doomed to fail? The personal injury lawyer is quite literally putting their money where their mouth is and taking on your case free of charge without any guarantee of recovery until the end of the case should it settle or should the Plaintiff win at trial. If the case is a loser, the personal injury lawyer losses too. That means that the goals of the personal injury lawyer and the client are aligned. And that’s a good thing. The more money the client receives, the more money the personal injury lawyer can bill in fees.

A wise personal injury lawyer will do his/her best to invest in clients whose cases they believe in. They will invest in clients they deem to have worthwhile causes which will render fruitful outcomes for both client and lawyer alike. Investing in too many cases which are going nowhere is a loss for the client, and a loss for the personal injury lawyer.

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Published on: October 15, 2020

Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post #490: Subjective Opinion vs. Objective Evidence in Personal Injury Claims

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. These opinions differ from person to person….and that’s ok.

Opinions can be based on a lot of different things: fact, belief, values, upbringing, history, education, training, experience, a gut feeling; or based on absolutely nothing at all!

You don’t need evidence to craft an opinion. It’s yours and doesn’t need to be justified by evidence, facts or anything other than that’s how you feel. And the crazy thing is how you happen to feel changes from day to day. Just like your opinion on something can change day to day, or hour to hour. Opinions aren’t concrete. They are fluid and forever changing.

Take politics. Sometimes Canadians elect a Liberal Government. Sometimes Canadians elect a Conservative Government. Other times Canadians can’t decide and elect a minority government. During an election; Canadians voice their political opinions by casting a vote for their party of choice. The party which they vote for can change from election to election. The change of vote represents a change of political support or political opinion. Opinions are fluid and change.

Evidence is completely different.

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Published on: October 3, 2019

Medical Records & Personal Injury Cases go hand in hand like….

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Sand castles are built of sand.

Log cabins are build of wood.

Large office towers and built of concrete, steel and glass.

And personal injury and long term disability cases are built of medical records!

The evidence of any personal injury case establishes the foundation upon which cases are built. The stronger the evidentiary foundation, the stronger the case. And the opposite is of course true. No evidence, or a lack of evidence will translate in to a weaker case.

The basic evidentiary building block in a personal injury or long term disability case are medical records. These records can be from a hospital, rehab facility, doctors office, specialists’ office, nurse practitioner, rehab clinic, or an OHIP Summary.

Without compelling medical evidence to support the injury or disability, establishing damages (the injury) will be difficult for the Plaintiff and his/her personal injury lawyer to do.

It’s simply not enough for an injured or disabled Plaintiff to get up on the stand and state that they were and remain injured due to the negligence of the Defendant.

Of course a Plaintiff is going to say such a thing. They have everything to gain because they are the lead party in the action. The Plaintiff has a lot of skin in the game.

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Published on: April 27, 2016

Expert Evidence in a Personal Injury Case (Ontario)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Personal Injury, Long Term Disability and Car Accident cases across Ontario are built upon EVIDENCE. Our legal system doesn’t play out in such a way as a Plaintiff makes a claim, yells a lot that they’re entitled to compensation, and then they get what they want. If Courts worked that way, those with the loudest voices would always win. In order for your case to succeed, you need evidence.

Evidence can’t be made up or fabricated. In order to be persuasive and carry weight, your evidence needs to be pure, legitimate, and not tampered with or altered.

Evidence comes in a lot of different forms. Evidence can be oral testimony from an examination for discovery. It can come from testimony at trial while a witness or party is on the stand. Oral evidence can come from parties to the litigation, witnesses to the action, lay persons/character witnesses, or experts.

Evidence can also come in the form of documentary evidence. Police reports, medical reports, video surveillance, 911 recordings, photos of injuries etc. All of these items are forms of evidence as well.

Cases are made and broken based on evidence. How much weight evidence is given depends on the Judge/Jury.

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