Articles Posted in Winter Accidnents

First and foremost, our thoughts are with the 76 passengers and 4 crew members of Delta Air Lines flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto which crash landed on February 17, 2025 at Pearson International Airport in Mississauga.

Thankfully, nobody died.

There were 18 injuries reported in the crash. We can only imagine that there will be more injuries long after the crash given the trauma of what took place. The thought of ever flying in an airplane again must be daunting for the victims, families, friends along with any others impacted by this accident.

We have never heard of an airplane flipping over and coming to a rest upside down; let alone seen footage of that actually taking place! This is another example of how cameras on phones are quite handy in personal injury cases. In the past, we would only hear that the plane landed upside down. We would have to imagine that happening in our heads, which, is quite difficult to picture. But with cameras on phones which capture the event happening itself, there is no longer any need for anyone to imagine that happening. The picture (video) speaks a thousand words and provides very powerful images of what took place. The same idea (of capturing a picture or a video) applies equally to all different sorts of personal injury cases. Those images don’t have to be as dramatic or jaw dropping as a plane crash landing upside down. It can be as simple as the aftermath of a car crash. Or the damage done to vehicles after a car accident. Or as boring as a patch of ice which had not been maintained by a property owner causing a slip and fall accident.

And on that note, this seems like a good segue to introduce the main topic of this week’s installment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog. Slip and Falls accidents.

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It’s snow tire time. We’ve had some pretty mild weather thus far in Ontario, but it’s getting to be that time of year. Don’t believe me?

Today the Weather Network announced that Ontario would get hit with its first blast of winter. They are predicting up to 60cm of snow in some regions on account of lake effect snow. They are warning drivers this will be the first hit of winter, with some hazardous winter driving conditions.

A few things to note:

• The people/networks which predict the weather are often wrong. These are only weather predictions so they aren’t going to be correct 100% of the time. Catchy headlines are used to engage readers (pay per click). Reporting on the weather that everything is fine and there is nothing to worry about won’t engage as many eyeballs. But predicting doom and gloom entices more people to click and read. So take these predictions with a grain of salt.
• Having said that about false weather predictions; we’re certainly due for a meaningful snowfall in Ontario. We are in the last week of November, and we haven’t really felt, or seen the winter. That means it wouldn’t surprise me if we got hit with a winter storm of some proportion. How big, or small that storm will be is anyone’s guess.
• The first snowfall of the winter makes for erratic driving! It seems that people forget how to drive when it snows, or they’ve never driven in snowy conditions before. Both statements can be true. Not everyone on our roads knows what it’s like to drive, or how to drive, when it snows. Snow, sleet, slush and ice create unique driving conditions which are only seen in winter weather countries like Canada.
• We also see the procrastination of putting on snow tires having an effect. Many people don’t think of putting on snow tires until it’s snowed a few times and their vehicles are sliding around the roads like sleds. They know that they have snow tires, and that they need them; but they wait until it’s too late to get them installed. That’s quite common. It’s recommended that snow tires be changed over when temperatures consistently fall below 7 degrees; even if it isn’t snowing. Snow tires are formulated to grip better when it’s cold.  With global warming, this date is going to be more erratic, and get pushed back later and later.
• On that note, here is a free marketing opportunity for any tire brand (Michelin, Cooper, Bridgestone etc.) or the tire industry. National Snow Tire Changeover Day. This idea would be good to heightening awareness about snow tires, and giving people a reminder to get them installed. It may also increase sales of snow tires. The companies can also provide incentives to purchasing and installing tires on National Snow Tire Changeover Day. The problem you might encounter is that the day might change depending on the weather. Hot temperatures would delay it, while fast cold snaps might move it forward. The National Date might also vary depending on where you live. You would have different temperatures and climates depending on the province (or area within a province) where you live. In any event, I’m sure that the marketing executives at the tire companies can figure things out. That’s why they’re paid the big bucks.

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Winter time means slip and fall accidents on account of snow, ice, sleet a slush.

These slip and fall cases can cause serious injuries to innocent visitors to public (or private) spaces.

Think of a parking lot at a school, university, grocery store, or a shopping mall that isn’t properly plowed, sanded or salted. Or perhaps a local gas station that hasn’t been maintained after some serious winter weather.

After a Plaintiff slips, falls, get hurt; begins the rehab process; what happens next? What happens behind the scenes of such a case.

With years of dedicated assistance to serving innocent accident victims across Ontario, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers has seen countless of these cases. While no two cases are exactly alike; they do share a lot of commonalities. Each case is determined on its own set of facts. Many cases can be similar, but NOT the same.

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Cold weather!

Snow!

Ice!

Yikes!

Winter means that you are either really excited because you happen to be a winter sports enthusiast (most people who love the winter also ski, snowshoe, play hockey and can’t get enough of the cold weather) or you are dreading what’s yet to come.

Whether or not you like, or dislike the winter weather doesn’t matter. But what does matter is that you stay safe for when the sidewalks, walk ways, stairs and entrances get wet, slushy, icy and slippery.

Around this time of year, our lawyers see an increase in client calls relating to slip and fall cases dealing with icy or slippery surfaces.

There is a very good reason for this aside from the obvious that it’s cold, snowy and can be icy outside. The reality is that the first winter storm or frost can catch us off guard. We aren’t quite ready for it. All of our “snow stuff“, such as winter boots, winter coats, hats and gloves were all packed away at the end of last winter, and have yet to be unpacked for the upcoming cold weather season.

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It’s that time of year. Slip and Fall season is upon us in Ontario.

Before we get in too deep on this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, all of us here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers would like to thank our readership for their support over this past year. We appreciate your positive and constructive feedback. In 2020, we hope to bring you more interesting to read legal content so that you can better understand the world of personal injury and disability law in Ontario. If there are any topics which you would like covered that we have yet to touch upon, send us an email to info@goldfingerlaw.com with subject title “Blog” and we will do our best to accommodate your request. You can always dig in to our archives on the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog page.

This week’s topic will cover slip and trip and falls. We always notice a spike in these sort of calls around this time of year. This year is no exception with the steady freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw weather we’ve had across the province, it’s kept everyone on their toes so to speak.

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This deep freeze, thaw, cold, warm, snow, rain, back to snow, then to ice weather cycle we have seen across Ontario this winter hasn’t been good for anyone. We’re not sure if it’s snowing, raining, or ice is falling from the sky.

All of the fluctuations in temperature have lead to slippery walking conditions on sidewalks, parking lots, entrance ways, walk ways and other paths.

Over the past week,  personal injury lawyer Brian Goldfinger has been asked for comment by the CBC, CityTV and quoted by Canadian Underwrite Magazine for commentary from a knowledgable lawyer regarding slip and fall cases in Ontario. You can find links to these articles here:

Canadians nurse winter wounds as cities grapple with icy sidewalks

https://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/claims/latest-canadian-statistics-on-slips-and-falls-on-ice-1004160258/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/sidewalk-clearing-law-london-ontario-1.5046917

Over the months of February and well in to the beginning of March 2019, our law firm has seen a spike from the usual norm with respect to winter slip and fall cases resulting in serious injury. Injuries like broken ankles, broken wrists, broken arms, broken hips; even fractured skulls. We have been seeing some pretty significant injury cases of late.

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