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Goldfinger Injury Lawyers receives a lot of inquiries from people looking to advance personal injury cases arising from assaults.

An assault can take place in a variety of ways, in a variety of different places, between a variety of different people.

Think of it as a game of “Clue“. One day it can be Colonel Mustard, in the Conservatory, with the Candlestick. The next, it could be Professor Plumb, in the Ballroom, with the Lead Pipe. There are millions of different scenarios.

What does it mean to “win” one of these personal injury assault cases?

First, it’s important to make a distinction between a criminal case, and a personal injury case.

There is no compensation awarded to the assault victim in the criminal case. The assault victim is an innocent victim of a crime who stands to win nothing from the outcome of the criminal case. If the Crown is successful in proving that the accused broke the law, then the accused will be punished according to the law. This punishment can take form in many different ways. Normally, we see jail time, parole time, restrictions on gun ownership, restraining orders and/or payment of a fine to Court. The Judge can also order a payment of restitution, which is NOT an award for pain and suffering to the victim of the crime.

On the other hand, a personal injury case is all about compensation for the innocent victim of the assault (known as the Plaintiff). Therefore, “winning” a personal injury case for assault means that the Plaintiff is successful in having the Defendant pay them money for their pain, suffering and other damages compensable at law. This is what it means to “win” a personal injury case.

If a Plaintiff’s goal in the personal injury case is just to be an annoyance to the Defendant; then; there are other less expensive ways of doing that. But, if that is their goal, and if money is of no concern to them, then so be it. Lawsuits are a pain and a grand annoyance to deal with for everyday people who are not accustom to litigation. This is why wealthy people like to use lawyers.

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There are some great ways which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help personal injury lawyers run their practice and help their clients.

But, there are some major pitfalls to leaning too heavily on AI.

Lawyers who use artificial intelligence the wrong way will get punished. I am reminded of the decision of Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 2965 (CanLII) where the lawyer included in her factum references to several non-existent or fake precedent court cases. In her oral argument in open court the lawyer relied on two non-existent precedent cases from her factum.

The problem came to light during the hearing when the Judge could not find any reference online to the cases relied upon by the lawyer as applicable precedents to state the law.
When questioned by the judge, the lawyer was unable to advise whether her factum had been prepared using generative artificial intelligence or whether the cases she listed in her factum and relied upon orally were “hallucinations” fabricated by an AI platform.
This is a bad use of AI. There will be no substitute for a lawyer reviewing the work being submitted to the Court. The lawyer is ultimately responsible. “The Buck Stops Here“.
Lawyers can use AI to prepare all sorts of pleadings and documents, but, if those lawyers don’t check the work being submitted, they are doing so at their own peril.

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In personal injury cases, you will hear a lot of lawyers, mediators, insurers and judges tell injured accident victims who are unfamiliar with civil litigation that the Courts are slow on account of a lack of resources. That’s very true.

But, what does having a lack of court resources look like and what does it mean?

What having a lack of resources means is that there isn’t enough money in the civil justice system to hear all of the cases which need to be heard.

This plays out with a shortage of judges, a shortage of court staff, and a lack of operating physical courtrooms themselves.

This is not because people don’t want to serve in these roles, or because we don’t want people to have their day in Court. It’s because there isn’t enough money budgeted to hire more people to handle the workload for the volumes of cases which need to be heard.

I’ve see cases which were commenced in Brampton, and then moved to Kitchener because the Brampton courthouse didn’t have the people to have the case heard. I’ve seen jurors drive to Brampton, only then to be bused to Kitchener for a jury trial because the trial could not be heard in Brampton that day.

Having practiced personal injury law for over 20 years, I’ve made note of some steps which could ease the burden on Courthouses and the civil litigation system, without burdening or making dramatic changes to civil litigation as we know it. Currently, there is a civil rules review committee which assembled and has made a number of recommendations to better stream line civil litigation cases, such as personal injury cases.

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Often people ask me what the biggest factor is for innocent accident victims to receive real financial compensation for their personal injury case. This is a wonderful question.

Sometimes, cases will be strong on damages, but weak on liability.

Other times cases will be strong on liability, but weak on damages.

And other times, cases can be strong on both liability and damages.

But regardless or whether or not the case is strong (or weak), on liability and damages; those factors and not the most important thing to getting a Plaintiff the compensation which s/he deserves.

The largest factor in whether or not a Plaintiff gets paid (or not) is insurance coverage. Simply put, if there is insurance coverage there; and there are no coverage issues; the Plaintiff has a strong chance of getting paid if their case succeeds on damages and liability. But, if there is no coverage there; the Plaintiff; in all likelihood, will not get paid regardless of whether or not their case is strong on liability and damages.

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“Thou shall not lie” is the ninth commandment, and it’s a pretty good commandment to abide by. This is reaffirmed at law when before a witness steps on the stand, or provide oral evidence at their examination for discovery; the witness either swears on the bible or affirms to tell the truth and not to lie.

But people are not followed around by Court Reporters and lawyers in their everyday lives. You are not required to swear to tell the truth before you start your day in the morning. Nor are you required to swear to tell the truth when you fill out some form of application. It’s just expected that you fill in the application truthfully, and not lie.

But, what are the consequences for lying on an application which may be relied on in the Courts? That’s a very good question. If often comes up in the form of insurance applications; like for life insurance, short term disability, long term disability or for mortgage insurance.

Often, at the top of these insurance applications, or on the first page there is some form of disclaimer or warning requiring the applicant to be truthful in completing the application, and identifying the consequences for not being truthful. But, few people play close attention to these details which may not be in fine print. The words might be in bold in order to better alert the applicant to the consequences, yet, they still go ignored in many cases because people have a habit of not reading (or not properly reading) standard forms.

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Brian Goldfinger has been writing the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog for over a decade.

In all my years of writing, I have never referred to the Toronto Blue Jays in the title of my blog.

Rarely (2-4 occasions) have I referred to the Toronto Blue Jays at all.

They’ve been an afterthought on the Toronto sports scene for many years. When I have referred to the Toronto Blue Jays in the past, it has been in a critical light. I have criticized the organization for acting like a small market team; while operating in a big market. When they do get big ideas, they never seem to execute on them properly, or at all. They play in the most competitive division in Major League Baseball; yet; they have seemed content to take a back seat to their competitors who do whatever it takes to win.

This season has been very different for the Toronto Blue Jays. They set a record for consecutive wins at home. They’re in first place in their division in July, which they haven’t done since their World Series Days back in the 90’s.

If you asked anyone who follows baseball, or who follows the Toronto Blue Jays whether to not they expected this sort of performance from the club, they would tell you this season has been the biggest surprise in baseball. Nobody; even the most optimistic fan, did not expect this level of success. In fact, if you had a prediction for the Toronto Blue Jays this season, it was that they would finish around .500; and that they would fire their manager either during the season, or at the end of the season. Based on a .500 winning percentage, it would be time for a change of manager.

But, this season has gone in a completely different direction. As of the time of preparing this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, the Toronto Blue Jays are winning and are relevant. There is a pleasant buzz around this team which hasn’t been seen for a very long time. This season’s performance has been unexpected in the best of ways.

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I can’t resist the opportunity to rant and to write about two of my favourite things. In no particular order:

  1. The Toronto Raptors
  2. Personal Injury Law in Ontario

First, let’s examine the Toronto Raptors.

Even someone who doesn’t follow sports will remember back in 2019, the Toronto Raptors won their first ever NBA title.

It was hard even for a non sports fan to ignore their championship run given that it was covered by national and international media. The Toronto Raptors Championship Parade remains a modern day benchmark for North American public sport celebrations; trailing Argentina’s World Cup parade in Buenos Aires which saw an unprecedented turnout. That one was hard to beat.

From 2020-2023, the Toront0 Raptors implemented a new vision to modern basketball. It was dubbed as “Vision 6’9“, referring to the height and length of the players. Basically, the Raptors were trying to design a roster of players built entirely of identical frames, statures and heights. Their roster was composed namely of players who were around 6’6 to 6’10 or so; with supporting lengthy wingspans. The idea what that these players could rotate seamlessly and play multiple positions of the court, and defend different players on the court without need for any help. You were basically cloning one specific body type, and putting all 5 of those players out of the Court and having them play at the same time. It was positionless basketball.

The term I hear a lot more around the NBA is the term “measurables“. Does the player have the requisite measurables (height and wing span), to play?

If a player has the “measurables“, they are instantly more valued. If the player lacks those “measurables“, they are less valued or cast off altogether. If you don’t tick the physical boxes, you won’t get looked at, or won’t play.

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There are so many tall tales in personal injury law. Things which you hear from your friends, family, therapists, neighbours, acquaintances, or random people in your community are so far off from the reality of what actually happens behind the scenes, and the work involved in a personal injury case.

The only people who really know what happens, and how things happened are the lawyers themselves.

There are a lot of reasons for this.

For starters, personal injury cases deal with new litigants, who are unfamiliar with personal injury cases, or how the law works. This is completely normal as for the majority of clients, it’s their first time hiring a personal injury lawyer, or a lawyer all together. When you are new to litigation, it’s hard to understand how things get done. It’s perfectly ok to be a first time litigant. In fact, if you’re a multiple time litigant for a personal injury case, it will give your lawyer cause for concern. You must be terribly unlucky, finding yourself repeatedly in the wrong place, at the wrong time. You will also likely have an extensive pre-accident history which will invariably come up in your personal injury case.

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It’s not everyday you have to deal with an insurance company. It’s not an interaction which people are accustomed to.

Think about it.

You don’t need legal advice to buy a pair of shoes.

You don’t need legal advice when negotiating a price for a new/used car.

You don’t need legal advice for a parent/teacher conference at school.

You don’t need legal advice opening a bank account, or negotiating the terms of your mortgage.

What’s set out above are adult interactions which we are used to in everyday life.

But, when it comes to personal injury, car insurance and disability claims, we do need legal advice. We need legal advice because these interactions don’t happen everyday for consumers.  We need legal advice because there are complicated laws around getting compensation. We need legal advice because more often than not, these claims are disputed and often end up being litigated in Court.

Given that our personal injury lawyers deal with insurance companies on a daily basis, here are some tips which we’ve procured for you based on our experience and expertise in dealing with them.

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It’s not everyday that a person settles their personal injury case. Getting your money from a personal injury settlement is a completely new process which you haven’t experienced, and thus, likely don’t understand.

The settlement money does not magically appear in your bank account the moment after your case settles.  If you attend at your lawyer’s office, the money does not magically appear either. There are still a few steps which need to be done. Those steps take place behind the scenes, and, for the most part, they are completely out of your control; and out of the control of your personal injury lawyer. But, understanding those steps might bring you a bit of peace of mind and will help you remain patient while you wait for the settlement funds to become available.

If you’ve made a deal with the insurance company with the help of your personal injury lawyer, the one thing you can do to move things forward is to sign the Release. If you don’t sign the Release, then the deal is not finalized and the insurance company will not requisition the cheque from their accounting department.

When a personal injury case settles, the Defendant/Insurer will require the Plaintiff to sign a Release. This is standard. Anyone who settles their case outside of Court will need to sign a Release. It will say in legalese that the case has settled for a specified amount; that the Plaintiff will NOT sue again over that specific accident/injury; and that the Plaintiff will not share the fact that the case settled all over town (a confidentiality clause is sometimes there, sometimes not). The faster which a Plaintiff signs the Release, the faster the settlement funds will be requisitioned by the insurance company.

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