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

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Our law firm gets a lot of calls from injured workers.

They have very serious injuries and wish to sue their employer. They allege that their employer was negligent; allowed for unsafe work conditions to exist which they knew, or ought to have known of; or permitted the worker to use unsafe equipment which needed to be replaced or better maintained.

All of these scenarios, in a non-workplace environment; are grounds for a winning lawsuit by an injured party.

Unfortunately for injured workers; the workplace is NOT a normal environment when it comes to litigating personal injury matters.

Most workers have heard of the Workplace Insurance & Insurance Board (WSIB). 

When a worker is injured on the job, s/he has to file a claim through the WSIB to receive benefits. Even if the employer is not registered with the WSIB, the worker needs to file a claim. Some employers are exempt from the WSIB (banks and law firms), but most employers MUST pay premiums into the program.

For many injured workers, WSIB benefits aren’t enough. They want more. They want to be vindicated with a win in Court, or some form of monetary settlement for their injuries.

There is nothing wrong with having these feelings; particularly when the employer could have prevented the injury had they done a better job at protecting their workers and providing for a safe work environment.

Unfortunately the “suing route” via personal injury lawsuit is NOT in the cards for most injured workers.

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Earlier this week Chief Justice Morawetz gave his address at the traditional “Opening of the Courts” for Ontario.  Calling it the “Opening of the Courts” is likely very confusing for the general public.

To be clear, the Courts were not “closed” before that time. But every year around this time we have a ceremony to “open” them in pomp and circumstance. If you like legal tradition, then this is the place to be! If you weren’t there live (which you likely were not), you can catch the ceremony here as it was publicly posted on YouTube.

The Opening of the Courts presents an opportunity for the Chief Justice to make a state of the union type of address acknowledging how the Courts and the Administration of Justice is performing from an insider’s perspective. It presents the Chief Justice with an opportunity to announce plans or changes moving forward. When the Chief Justice speak, lawyer across Ontario listen very attentively. Here are a few interesting comments from the Chief Justice himself from the Opening of the Courts which caught my attention:

“References to the Queen have now transitioned to the King. Our Registrars now refer to the King when opening and closing court.”

“The current situation (in Ontario Civil Courts) cannot continue. If the timeline between the commencement of a civil matter and the trial is 4 to 5 years, the civil justice system is simply not responding to the litigants.“

“return to in-person hearings, especially for substantive and complex matters, is an integral part of the judicial system and essential to the administration of justice.”

“Meaningful access to justice requires in-person hearings for many self-represented litigants. It is also essential to building the core ingredients of a strong and healthy bar — mentorship and collegiality”

“There is no going back: virtual hearings have become a permanent fixture for court proceedings”

“civil proceedings are an area that is ripe for major change…..(The Court) runs the risk of becoming irrelevant in civil proceedings if action is not taken.”

“The Rules of Civil Procedure were meant to provide us with a roadmap to resolution; but instead, civil proceedings have become bogged down by process. They have become a maze that is difficult for many to navigate. They have become out of step with the purpose they were meant to serve”

In commenting on this, the Chief Justice commented that there out to be a new and more simple path forward. There looks to be a complete re-writing of the Rules of Civil Procedure within 3 years.

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Insurance companies along with their third party contractor occupational therapists and rehabilitation companies seek to take advantage of innocent accident victims when they are at their most vulnerable. Immediately following a serious accident.

Innocent accident victims are shook following a serious car accident. Their world has been turned upside-down.

They have to manage a boat load of little emergencies because life as they know it has changed. They might be non-weight bearing in hospital in need of 24/7 attendant care, but life still goes on.

Who is going to look after the kids while you’re injured?

Who is going to walk the dog, get the groceries or take out the garbage?

How am I going to manage my work obligations?

How am I going to pay my bills?

Who is going to pay for all of the treatment and medication I need?

Who is going to help me fill out the pile of forms which the insurance companies are asking me for?

How do I apply for Government assistance?

The last thing you need is a stranger doing an assessment of you when you’re in such a vulnerable physical and emotional state.

Yet this is exactly what seems to happen time and time again.

Your car insurer will hear about your car accident one way or another. The more serious the accident, the greater the chance that your insurer will find out about the accident rather quickly, even if you have not reported it. Chances are the other party or parties who were involved in the car accident have. The insurer can track the party involved just by virtue of a quick license plate check; or by checking up the information contained in the Police Report or Occurrence Summary.

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Car accidents happen. They are unpredictable and don’t discriminate based on age, gender, religion and socio-economic status. They happen to poor people, rich people, middle class people, retired people, disabled people and gainfully employed people. There isn’t any method to the selection of an accident victim. It’s completely random. Serious car accidents happen to good people who are simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time. They fall victim to fate, time and circumstance. Some accidents are avoidable. While others are not.

This Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post will tell the tale of Brian Goldfinger and the Catastrophic Car Accident.

The term “catastrophic” is a very important legal term when it comes to car accident law in the Province of Ontario. In plain English, “catastrophic” is a word used to describe sudden and very serious damage; as having a very significant impact.

But at law, the term “catastrophic” means something different altogether. Under the SABS and in the Insurance Act, the term “catastrophic” is used as a definer to establish an accident victim’s injuries are very serious. Being deemed “catastrophic” by your car insurer means that your injuries have met a medico-legal definition. Once that definition is met, the catastrophic car accident victim is entitled to a wider variety, and an greater amount of benefits then another accident victim whose injuries have not been deemed catastrophic. For example, a catastrophic accident victim is entitled to case management services. A non-catastrophic accident victim is not. A catastrophic accident victim is entitled to a combined attendant care and med/rehab limit of $1,000,000 for treatment and services deemed to be both reasonable and necessary. The limits for a non-catastrophic car accident victim are either $3,500 under the Minor Injury Guideline; or $65,000 under the regular guidelines.

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It doesn’t matter the season, the weather, the time of day, or the conditions. Slip and falls happen. Sometimes there are no injuries. Sometimes there can be very serious, even catastrophic injuries. When a bad slip and fall does happen, people often seek out the services of a personal injury lawyer to get them the compensation which they deserve to restore some form of dignity to their lives. The compensation recovered by your personal injury lawyer cannot only help make ends meet for the present, but can also provide a degree of future care support moving forward.

Today’s edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog will focus on “Brian Goldfinger and the case of the Bad Slip and Fall”.

Once upon a time, there was a nice elderly man. Let’s call him “Fred“. Fred lived a semi-retired life in a rural property just outside of Peterborough, ON. Fred is a fictional character.

One day, Fred headed in to town to do some grocery shopping and some banking. It was a normal fall day in September. The weather was cool, and the skies were sunny.

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I suppose the title of this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post is slightly misleading. It may suggest that I, Brian Goldfinger, am going back to school. While this sounds like a great and enlightening idea, I am not going back to school.

Rather, this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post will deal with Brian Goldfinger’s observations on students returning to school earlier this week.

My children began school on the Tuesday after labour day. Other began school on Wednesday, September 7th. Older university students got settled in their dorms and residences over the Labour Day Long Weekend.

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A personal injury case starts and ends with a Plaintiff and his/her personal injury lawyer.

Without a Plaintiff and his/her personal injury lawyer making a claim, there is no personal injury case to begin with.

This has an industry wide impact.

That means there is one less claim for an insurance adjuster to handle; which can translate into one less job if you really think of it.

That means there is one less Statement of Claim, Motion Record, Trial Record for a process server to serve/file.

That means there is one less medico-legal assessment for an expert to evaluate.

That means there is one less examination for discovery for a reporter to book and to transcribe.

That means there is one less file for a mediator to mediate; one less board room to be booked; one less lunch booking for a caterer.

That means there is one less file for a insurance defence lawyer to defend and to bill on.

That means there is one less legal assistant or law clerk to help the lawyer do his/her job on the file.

The entire personal injury industry, as we know it; is built upon innocent accident victims reaching out to a personal injury lawyer; and that personal injury lawyer advancing the accident victim’s rights to get him/her the compensation which s/he deserves. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent and exchanged in handling, managing, litigating and adjudicating those claims.

There is no better example of this than a recent case we had. Let me illustrate.

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Throwing my name “Brian Goldfinger” into the title of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog posts makes the post sound like a Young Adult mystery novel. My daughter has found the titles to the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog posts with my name in them quite interesting. But she has told me that the content of the posts doesn’t quite live up to the hype of the title. Let’s see if we can change that with this instalment.

There are a lot of Long Term Disability Insurance companies out there. Sometimes you get the chose which company you can go through by purchasing individual benefits outside of work directly from an insurer or an insurance broker. Other times, the individual has no choice and goes through their company benefit plan which was negotiated by the company or through the Union. Sometimes a company will switch benefit providers; so you may have stared with one private insurer; and then the entire company switches over to another long term disability insurer.

Sometimes there is choice. Other times, there isn’t choice.

It all depends on the individual facts and circumstances of employment.

Some examples of insurance companies which provide long term disability benefits in Ontario or Canada for that matter include, but aren’t limited to:

  • SunLife
  • Manulife
  • Canada Life
  • Great West Life
  • SSQ
  • La Capitale
  • Blue Cross
  • Industrial Alliance
  • RBC Insurance
  • Co-Operators Insurance
  • Desjardins Insurance
  • Equitable Life

Most auto insurers don’t offer long term disability insurance; the same way that most long term disability insurers don’t offer auto insurance. Although, there are a few companies which offer both. But this is not ordinary in the world of long term disability insurance.

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Today it rained as hard as I can remember in the Yonge/Sheppard area of North York. No thunder. No lightning. Just a lot of rain, with a sprinkle of hail for good measure.

As a result of the heavy rain, our office experienced flooding in the basement. It was pretty bad. All hands were on deck, doing our best to mop up the water and prevent further damage.

The resulting water damage got me thinking about all of those people who experience property damage on account of water, fire, wind or other natural (or unatural) causes.

What do you do when this happens to your property?

What steps should you take in order to protect your rights and preserve your interests?

All good questions.

Our law firm handles a lot of property damage claims. These are claims specifically related to damaged property. So, not cars which are damaged in car accidents. We are talking about damage to one’s home, office, or place of business; along with all of the equipment, chattel and contents contained therein. I repeat  that damage sustained to your vehicle as a result of a car accident is not applicable to these claims thanks to some provisions contained in the Insurance Act.

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Let’s break things down in really easy to understand terms.

If you have been involved in a car accident, you are entitled to accident benefits from your own car insurance company.

If you didn’t have car insurance at the time of the accident because you were a passenger, cyclist or pedestrian; then don’t worry. The law has thought of that. Under the priority rules of the Insurance Act, the other motorist’s car insurance needs to cover your accident benefits.

If the other driver didn’t have any car insurance; and you didn’t have any car insurance; and nobody can find a car insurer to claim from in relation to the subject car accident: don’t worry! The law has thought of that as well. Under the priority rules of the Insurance Act, the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund (MVACF) steps in to the shoes of where the auto insurer should be and pays out of the claim. Basically, the government steps in to the shoes of the hole left by the lack of private insurance for the case.

Once we have established insurance, it’s time for the injured accident victim to make a claim for benefits.

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