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I can’t begin to tell you the number of calls I get from prospective clients telling me how hurt they are as a result of a car accident, slip and fall, or other traumatic accident; only to find out that their accident happened like a DECADE AGO!

I ask them whether or not they started a claim. They tell me no.

I ask them whether or not they had a personal injury lawyer before calling Goldfinger Injury Lawyers. Some tell me that they tried finding a lawyer but nobody would take their case, or that all of the lawyers they spoke to wanted a big upfront monetary retainer. Others tell me that they never thought of looking for a lawyer. When questioned why they didn’t think of finding a lawyer sooner, they tell me that didn’t think that the passage of a long period of time (like over 2 years) was a big deal; and that any lawyer could help them out of this mess.
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Today Ontario’s Court of Appeal released a landmark decision in Hurst v. Aviva. This decision has an impact on ANYBODY who has been hurt or injured in an accident in Ontario. It relates specifically to accident benefit law, which is a complicated, man made set of laws which gets tweaked every year by the provincial government.

This decision confirms that accident victims deserve timely access to justice when they have a dispute with their own auto insurer over statutory accident benefits.

So, what’s this case all about and why’s it so important? Keep reading and I’ll fill you in!
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Today I watched a great clip from Howard Elmer, a contributor to my favourite car television show; MOTORING TV. Motoring TV is on TSN and its a great show about cars, and the people who drive them.

In this clip, Elmer describes how the Insurance Industry is trying to again cap your benefits because the cost of insurance in Ontario is simply too high. There’s also talk about insurance fraud. But, based on my experience, the fraud you see if far less than insurers insist exists, and is a GTA phenomenon. If have yet to see any sort of frauds outside the GTA (Toronto, Vaughan, Mississauga, Brampton). I have yet to sniff or even suspect auto insurance fraud akin to what might exist in Toronto. In any event, this is a great video clip. Here’s the link to the clip. I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Well done Howard.
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Ontario’s Court of Appeal released a landmark car accident decision yesterday in the case of Pastore v. Aviva.

The decision deals with the definition of “catastrophic” under Ontario’s Insurance Act.

60 year old Toronto resident Anna Pastore was attending a wedding when she was hit by a car back in 2002.(Editorial Note: this is a 2002 accident which is only getting resolved yesterday 2012!!!! Is that nuts or is it just me. Talk about delay in our Courts, but that’s no secret to anyone.)

At the time of the car accident she was the primary caregiver for her husband who was very sick. As a result of the accident, she broke her ankle and later required knee replacement surgery. Her personal injury lawyer applied to Aviva for catastrophic benefits under the insurance Act.
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One of Goldfinger Injury Lawyers’s clients was recently profiled in the Peterborough News x3 for a bar assault claim. You can read all about our client’s story in the Peterborough Examiner’s article; the Peterborough This Week’s article; you can watch the footage on CHEX-TV in Peterborough below:

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVTMgTsAOU
 
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One of my first high profile personal injury cases was a dog bite case. A Toronto woman, walking her American Eskimo therapy dog was attacked by three off leash pit bulls in the park of an apartment complex. The American Eskimo named Simba was bitten relentlessly by its attackers and then torn to pieces. Its pure white as snow coat was stained red in its own blood. The owner of the dog witnessed the three pitbulls tearing her poor Simba to pieces. She tried to stop the attack and shelter Simba from the two attacking dogs. Smelling blood, the pitbulls continued their attack on the woman, tearing into her arms, legs, back, neck and abdomen. Simba died and the owner was injured both mentally and physically.

The case garnered media attention in the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail. Here’s a link to the excerpt from the Globe and Mail article.
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Here’s the short answer to that question: Yes you are required to attend a medical examination with a doctor or sometimes doctors hired and paid for by the insurance company for the purposes of your personal injury case.

But, Brian, what gives the insurance company the power to have me attend such an examination? I don’t want to see some quack doctor I’ve never met. I’m not comfortable disclosing to this doctor (who is a complete stranger) my pre-accident medical history and all of my accident related impairments. It all sounds creepy to me.

I agree.

But, Ontario’s Courts have provisions giving the Defendant Insurance company the right to have you attend such an examination where your health is an issue in your case (such as a car accident case or a brain injury case)
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Ontario Motorists will want to read this case. Provincial Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru ruled that it was alright for a motorist to briefly hold their cell phone while driving. The facts of the case are interesting for anyone to read (lawyer or not).

Disclaimer Alert! This article is not intended to be legal advice and I am NOT advocating that you now go around holding your active cell phone while driving. That’s not cool.

Here are the facts of the case:

On April 26, 2010, the accused KHOJASTEH KAZEMI was returning to work from the CAS in Oshawa. She dropped her cell phone in the car while driving home on the DVP. She did not pick up her cell phone while driving on the highway. She arrived at a red light at the corner of Gerrard St. and River St. in Toronto, and proceeded to pick up her cell phone from the floor of the car.

A Toronto Police Office, PC Miller was standing at the corner on traffic duty. He saw Ms. Kazemi reaching down of the floor of her car, and he believed that she was pressing bottons on a cell phone. PC Miller tapped on Ms. Kazemi’s window and saw that she was holding an open Nokia flip phone (do those even exist anymore?). PC Miller gave Ms. Kazemi a ticket under the new provisions of the Highway Traffic Act (ss 78.1) under the distracted driver provisions of the Act.
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The SABS were changed effective September 1, 2010, requiring that in order to recieve Attendant Care Benefits, and injured party must show that the care giver has sustained an economic loss, and that the expense has in fact been an “incurred expense“. That effectively means that if the care provider was unemployed before the accident, they would NOT be entitled to recieve any attendant care benefits, because no economic loss has been sustained.

What this change to the SABS has done, is effectively limited a family member’s ability to collect attendant care benefits, particularly if that family member was unemployed before the car accident, or a stay at home parent. The rationale is that the attendant care provider would have been at home anyways, so why provide them with any benefits.
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Goldfinger Injury Lawyers is celebrating Brain Injury Awarness Month by donating 100 bike helmets to children in need. Donations have been made to communities in Toronto, London and Peterbourough. Bike accidents, and cyclists wearing helmets are the number 1 preventer of head and brain injury. There has been a lot of discussion as of late in news about what laws and legistlation either need, or don’t need to be enacted in order to prevent brain injury.
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