COVID-19 Update: How We Are Serving and Protecting Our Clients

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On August 10, 2021 the Honourable Justice Grace ordered that “all civil jury trials scheduled to commence in London, Ontario during September, October, November and December 2021 and all civil jury trials scheduled to commence in London, Ontario during September and October 2021” are adjourned. There will be a special civil assignment court to be conducted by teleconference on September 16, 2021 at which time new trial and potentially new pre-trial dates will be set.

The reason for the blanket adjournment of all of these civil trials? COVID-19.

His Honour cited “the impact of COVID-19 on the operations of the Superior Court of Justice and the significant backlog of criminal and family cases”.

Omnibus_Endorsement_of_Justice_Grace_re_civil_trials_for_Fall_of_2021_London (1)

So where does that leave your personal injury or long term disability case?

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Most unionized employees have benefits through their employer. Those benefits have been negotiated by their unions as a perk of employment. They help make life inside and outside of the workplace that much better and add a layer of security and value to one’s employment.

But if you asked a unionized employee what benefits they are covered for, and for what amounts: most will tell you that they aren’t really sure; but they are sure that they are covered for some things (dental, physio, life, disability or something else).

Not every employee memorizes their benefits booklet and that’s ok. Those benefits booklets can also get confusing given that employees are assigned into different categories where insurance benefits and amounts vary depending on the level of seniority or position of the employee.

You union can play a big role, or a small role in your long term disability claim.

Understanding the interaction between the employee and his/her union in the context of a long term disability claim is important. Failure to understand the union’s role can defeat a long term disability claim before it even has the chance of getting off the ground.

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Our law firm receives a lot of calls from people who have been denied Life Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, Mortgage Insurance and Critical Illness claims.

Some of these policies are group policies which are offered through an employer.

Sometimes these are private policies which are purchased from an insurance broker or from a bank.

This Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog post will focus more on those private policies which individuals purchase on their own. The thing with private policies is that you need to apply, and qualify for coverage. Monthly premiums vary depending on age, health, disability history, lifestyle choices and other risk criteria.

These risk criteria are examined in detail by an underwriting department at the insurance company.

These underwriters have very important jobs. They have to assess the risk of insuring individuals and put a dollar figure on that risk. Premiums are largely determined based on the risk of insuring the individual and the level or amount of insurance which the individual is seeking.

A life insurance policy which pays out a $50,000 benefit will be less expensive than a life insurance policy which pays out a $5,000,000 benefit.

The same way that a life insurance policy for a 9 year old person will be less expensive than a life insurance policy for a 99 year old.

There are so many factors which go into underwriting that it’s hard to understand. This is why insurance companies narrow down these underwriting criteria based on a set of questions when applying for insurance.

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Lots on people who are applying for Long Term Disability insurance benefits; or who are receiving Long Term Disability benefits want to know why their insurance company is asking (or demanding) that you apply for Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits (CPP-D).

What does one set of benefits have to do with the other? Why is my long term disability insurer so adamant that I apply?

All of these are great question and as personal injury lawyers who handle a lot of long term disability claims; we see them all of the time.

For starters, contained in the very very fine print of each and every single long term disability insurance policy that we have seen is a provision which states something to the effect that:

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A bad police report and a poor police investigation can be very harmful to an injured Plaintiff in personal injury cases.

In order for a Plaintiff’s personal injury case to succeed, the Plaintiff must establish that the Defendant was negligent (at fault) for the accident in question.

No fault against the other driver? No tort claim.

Regardless of how seriously injured the Plaintiff is; if the Plaintiff cannot establish fault against the other driver, they won’t have a successful tort claim. That’s not to say that they won’t have a successful accident benefit claim. Accident benefit claims are not subject to same the fault rules which we see in tort cases.

All too often, our office has seen police investigations in Ontario which frankly aren’t done properly. That’s not to say that all police investigations into motor vehicle accidents fall short. One bad apple (or a few bad apples) can certainly spoil the bunch.

There is no doubt that police resources are spread thin. Large jurisdictions like Toronto have a lot of ground to cover. Other more rural jurisdictions may not have ample resources. But the consequences of not getting the job done properly, or at all, can be devastating to a personal injury case.

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When you’ve been wronged and want to seek justice; you sue.

It’s sounds simple and it ought to be.

Trouble is, when it comes to accident benefit disputes following a car accident in Ontario, you can’t sue anymore. Your right to sue in Court and have your case heard before a Judge were taken away from you. That means that you can’t sue.

Understanding this concept for many innocent car accident victims is really hard to understand. It seems unfair and it is.

Instead of suing in the Courts, accident victims who are seeking compensation for their accident benefit claims follow a car accident are REQUIRED to apply to the License Appeals Tribunal Automobile Accident Benefit Service (LAT AABS) or simply know as the LAT.

The LAT is a Tribunal run by the Province of Ontario. It’s a strange place with its own unique set of rules, procedures and adjudicators.

It’s not uncommon for disputes to be resolved at a Tribunal instead of Courts. We see it in all sorts of places like the Human Rights Tribunal, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, Ontario Land Tribunal etc.

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The Global Pandemic has been hard on people for different reasons. Those reasons may be economic, social, psychological, health related, something else, or a combination of a variety of factors. Whatever the reason might be, the Global Pandemic has impacted all of us in one way, shape or form.

The field of personal injury law is no exception.

Lawyer across Ontario have seen different systems come in place which we’ve all needed to adapt to and make work. Courts have released new practice directions; it would seem on a near weekly basis for lawyers and litigants to tell us how the Courts will work in this new world. Some months jury trials are being heard. Other months jury trials are not being heard. The same applies for contested motions or applications.

Below is a list of trends and predictions for the field of personal injury law in Ontario which have been brought on by the Global Pandemic. Now that things appear to be opening up, we all may see more changes yet to come.

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Each year our law firm sees a spike in calls immediately after the Canada Day Long Weekend. We expect this long weekend to be no different. The combination of long summer nights, alcohol, drugs and long weekend excitement can lead to some pretty dangerous situations which we should all hope to avoid.

While we have done iterations of this post in previous years, the safety tips are worth repeating. Some here are some old tips, and some new ones based on recent observations and queries from our intake of calls from across Ontario. Some of these tips may surprise you; while others are common sense. The thing with common sense is that it’s not so common; and sometimes it doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense to people.

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Car accident law shouldn’t be confusing. But it is!

Workplace injury law shouldn’t be confusing either. But it is!

Part of the reason that both car accident law and workplace injury law are both so confusing is because there are man made laws behind both; which usurp natural law.

For car accident claims we look to the Insurance Act and the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. Both pieces of legislation are dense; and require that the injured claimant complete a bunch of confusing standard forms.

For workplace injury claims we look to the Workplace Safety Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act along with the First Aid Requirements Regulation 1101

These pieces of legislation are also dense, and require that the injured worker complete a bunch of confusing standard forms.

You cannot sue your car insurer in regular Court over an accident benefit dispute for a car accident claim. Instead you must start a proceeding before the License Appeals Tribunal or LAT in the Automobile Accident Benefits Service or AABS

You cannot sue your employer in regular Court over a workplace accident. Instead you must start a proceeding before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board or WSIB.

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One of the most commonly asked questions of me, Brian Goldfinger, is:

“Do I have a good case?”

It’s generally hard to say whether or not a person has a strong case or not. But there are a few indicators as to the strengths, or weaknesses or one’s case.

This edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog will focus on case strengths, and case weaknesses as they relate to Long Term Disability cases. In some respects, the same reasoning can be applied to car accident cases, slip and fall cases, dog bite cases etc. But there will be some specifics dealing with Long Term Disability cases which are unique to those sort of claims.

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