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Car insurance cases are a lot about paperwork.

Completing the right paperwork. Completing that paperwork the right way, by the right professionals, and completing the paperwork on time. If you’ve done those things, then you are well on your way. While there are no guarantees at success, getting the paperwork done correctly will ensure that your claim doesn’t fail before it even gets started.

Once of the small changes we’ve seen over the past 2 years are the changes to the OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits.

The OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits is the FIRST and MOST IMPORTANT form which you can file with your car insurer after a car accident.

If you file this form properly and on time, your accident benefit claim will be live and open. Subsequent forms and documents can be filed afterwards. The OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits is the form that gets the ball rolling. If you don’t fill out the OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits, you won’t be able to have an accident benefit case; and it will also have an impact on your tort claim for pain and suffering against the at fault driver. Not to mention that you won’t have any access to medical/rehabilitation benefits to get you better; or access to any attendant care benefits (up to $3,000/month), income replacement benefits (up to $400/week or more if you purchased optional benefits) or non-earner benefits ($185/week).

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If you live in Ontario, take a look outside. Chances are, you will see some very gloomy conditions. Snow. Sleet. Slush. Perhaps some beautiful sunshine reflecting off the white snow. Which will soon become a slushy grey mess as soon as the weather warms up.

It’s now wonder that Canadians tend to travel during the cold weather months. But, when travelling outside of Canada, there are important travel considerations. Health care is free for Canadian residents within Canada. But, it’s not free when travelling outside of Canada. This is why it’s important to consider some form of travel insurance.

Here are some things to consider.

Ontario Car Insurance will cover some medical and treatment costs if you are involved in a car accident outside of Ontario (like driving your vehicle on a long road trip through the United States). The car insurer will pay for the medical and treatment expenses so long as they agree that those expenses are reasonable and necessary. There is no guarantee that the insurer will agree to this, but it’s nice to know that some degree of coverage is available. Many people don’t know that they can make a claim through their Ontario car insurance for a car accident which took place in the United States. This is not a claim against the at fault driver in an Ontario Court. Rather, it’s a first party claim with your own car insurer (regardless of who is at fault). This is called an “accident benefit claim“, and depending on the nature and severity of the injuries, there might be coverage in upwards of $1,000,000 for medical and treatment costs not covered by OHIP provided that the injuries are deemed catastrophic; along with up to $400/week in the form of an income replacement benefit. All of this is available for an Ontario driver or passenger; for a car accident which took place outside of Ontario (even in the United States).

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Ever ride public transit and wonder why you don’t have to wear a seat belt?

I sure have.

As a personal injury lawyer, we get calls all of the time from people who have been injured taking public transit. People fall because a bus stops suddenly. People get injured in a serious public transit collision. Are these accidents preventable had people been wearing a seatbelt. Or, perhaps, would the injuries to the riders be less significant, or even non-existent, if seatbelts were required.

And I wondered what it would look like if there were laws requiring riders to buckle up on buses, subways or streetcars.

Would things be safer? Would transit slow down because riders were required to buckle up? Would taking a bus or a streetcar be less convenient? Would having a wear a seatbelt act as a deterrent to people taking public transit? Would transit police really enforce these laws and ticket people?

I was very curious as to how this would ever play out. Seeing as I don’t manage a City’s operations, or those of a public transit provider, I would just have to wait and see it play out in the real world. And, wait patiently I did until it finally played out.

And, I would like to share with you what happened.

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Sunday January 25th 2026 was the single snowiest day in the history of Toronto. 46 cm of snow fell at Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, ON; surpassing the previous record of 36.8cm which fell at Pearson on January 23, 1966.

The winter storm was not unexpected. It was widely reported across various news outlets that it would snow, and that it would snow a lot. The reports were accurate (for a change!). Activities, events, programs, and flights were cancelled; rightfully so. People were warned to stay off the roads. The warnings and cancellations were warranted on Sunday.

But Monday things were a different story!

The snow stopped across the GTA on Sunday evening around 930-10PM. Cities and Municipalities had at least 12 hours to do their thing to clear the roadways, sidewalks and other routes. That should be plenty of time for cities who are no strangers to winter and snow. I have no doubt that a city like Montreal could handle that sort of turnaround time. They are a serious winter city. Toronto is not.

Yet, cities and municipalities across the GTA seemingly could not handle it. Schools were cancelled quite fast, with little to no resistance, discussion or debate.

It was once a policy for school boards to stay open at all costs. Dozens of feet of snow would not stop the schools from closing. Buses, sure..They would stop running. But not schools. Get the kids in school, so that they can socialize and learn. .  Even if it was just for a handful of students who came. It’s no wonder why those who were in school 20+ years ago are more resilient and socially normalized. They were forced to deal with adversity and adverse conditions. They grew and became adults. I fear our children will remain children because of things like this.

We can all understand why buses to schools should cancel if the roads are less than ideal. But having the entire school cancel when over 80% of TDSB students can walk to school or live within a 1km distance from their school; when the city had over 12 hours to plow the main sidewalks and the school boards had all of that time to plow their parking lot? I bet you that over 80 percent of your street’s driveways or parking lots for apartment complexes were cleared of snow this morning (or last night when the snow stopped). We learned from COVID that kids belong amongst other kids, and belong in school. They do not belong at home glazing over screens in the name of “remote learning“. How much remote learning can these children handle? Their eyes are growing more empty and blank by the Snow Day.

As an aside, the roads sure looked plowed to me this morning.

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It’s been snowy.

It’s been icy.

It’s been slushy.

It’s been mucky.

It’s been dark, cold and cloudy.

Yes my friends. It’s been a bitter cold winter.

And with bitter cold winters come lots of car accidents. Even if you have snow tires and you’re an experienced driver, and you drive slowly, accidents still happen. Because operating a 4,000+ pound machine on a sheet of ice and snow at speed isn’t supposed to be normal. Accidents will happen.

The topic of this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog relates to winter related car accidents because a little birdy told our personal injury lawyers that this Sunday we are expecting over 30cm of snow. If even half of that amount falls on an Ontario City, it will cause some seriously dangerous driving conditions which municipalities are showing that they are having more and more difficulty handling. Cities and Municipalities seem to be less equipped to deal with winter; or is that just us thinking that. It’s a story for another blog entry.

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At Goldfinger Injury Lawyers, we tell our clients to be very careful about what they post on social media. Whatever gets posted, past, present or future can, or will be used against you by an insurance company at Court in order to defeat your case, or test your credibility.

When we tell people this sort of thing, they roll their eyes in disbelief. How can anything I say, or post, ever be used against me in the context of my personal injury case?

Our personal injury lawyers see this sort of thing all of the time. Here are a few examples of how social media posts can hurt a personal injury case:

  • Client says under oath that they can’t walk or run for a long period of time on account of their injuries sustained in the motor vehicle accident. Going for long walks and jogs has been out of the question ever since their car accident. Defence counsel then disproves this statement referencing Strava Posts of the Plaintiff’s hiking and running data. This data is publicly shared online via Facebook or on Instagram. It costs nothing for the Defendant to access these posts because they’re public. No private investigator was required. Just a quick internet search. The data shows the Plaintiff routinely going for bi-weekly runs and hikes in excess of 20km at a fast pace. The Plaintiff is dressed in running gear and is seen flexing their muscles after the workouts. #TrainHard is the hashtag in each post. Not a good look for a Plaintiff who swore under oath the exact opposite.
  • Plaintiff says they don’t go out, they no longer go on vacation, and that they no longer socialize with friends as much since the subject accident; they don’t like being in big crowds of people due to social anxiety developed as a result of the accident. But, social medial tells a completely difference picture. It shows the Plaintiff away on a Caribbean vacation post accident. It shows the Plaintiff smiling and socializing at a friend’s wedding. It shows the Plaintiff out at a professional sporting event attended by 40,000+ people (post accident). These images discredit the Plaintiff’s injuries, and call into question his/her veracity and credibility. Everything which the Plaintiff says will be taken with a large grain silo of salt moving forward (along with his/her past statements and allegations)
  • Clinical notes and records of the family doctor show that the Plaintiff is not supposed to life objects of 10 pounds or greater. Plaintiff testifies under oath that s/he cannot lift objects of 10 pounds or greater, nor can they do any heavy lifting, bending or squatting. Images of the Plaintiff circulate online of him/her participating in a rock climbing event; and a curling tournament. The average curling stone weighs between 38-44 pounds. So much for the statement that the Plaintiff cannot lift; or should not be lifting objects over 10 pounds.

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Around 5 years ago, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers noticed a surge in E-bike accident calls to our law firm. E-bikes had gained popularity. More e-bikes were being sold by run of the mill bike shops and big box stores alike. More people were open and excited to use them. Any why not? They were affordable methods of convenient and environmentally friendly transportation. E-Bikes and their cousins E-Scooters went fast and didn’t use any gas. They were, and remain a great way to get around.

What we noticed a few common themes with E-Bike and E-Scooter accidents at our law firm:

  1. The injuries to the rider(s) tended to be serious. This made sense given that the accidents took place at higher speeds than accidents involving nor motorized bikes. But, also like regular bikes, the riders did not have the safeguards you would see on a car (airbags, bumpers, seatbelts). The only protective gear for a cyclist (motorized on non motorized) was the helmet the person was wearing, along with any other clothing. Doctors have observed that injuries sustained in e-bike accidents tend to resemble injuries sustained in motorcycle accidents. This is significant because motorcyclists are required to have licenses and to have registered their vehicles. E-bikes are not required to be registered, and operators are not required to have driver’s licenses.
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When there is an emergency, we are trained to dial 911

I’ve had to dial 911 from different communities across Ontario. Every community seemed to answer the phone in the same way. The script went something like this:

“911 Do you need Police, Fire or Ambulance?”

It was very straight forward, direct and clear to the caller. Time was of the essence, and the caller would respond accordingly.

One of the most memorable calls I had to make to 911 was on a long term disability case. My client was being examined for discovery at a Court Reporter’s Office in London, ON. As a result of her condition, in combination with the stress of being examined for discovery, she passed out at the examiner’s table. She was being asked questions one moment; and in then next moment she completely passed out. I had to call an ambulance which took her to hospital. The paramedics (London) were fantastic, and arrived in well under 10 minutes. Needless to say, the examination for discovery was not completed that day. Everyone was shaken up. It was a pretty traumatic experience for all of the parties, including the Court Reporter and everyone in the waiting room. The defence lawyer reported what happened to her client, and the case settled soon after. This time, the pain and suffering was not compartmentalized to the Plaintiff alone. It was one of the few times where an insurance defence lawyer had a front row seat to a Plaintiff’s pain, suffering which impacted their ability to complete their job.

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When I was a young lawyer, I was in Court 2-4 days per week. These were not days spend in trial, although, there were some trials.

Most of the time I spent in Court had to deal with Motions (opposed, on consent or unopposed) in order to move personal injury cases forward. The cases were stalled until the motion could be heard. The motions were not “rocket science” incredible complicated. They were completely normal motions which any personal injury lawyer would need to bring. The motions were for such things as:

  • Motion to Amend the Statement of Claim
  • 30.10 motion for Third Party Records
  • WAGG Motion for the complete, unedited police file and Crown Brief
  • Motion to extend to time to serve the Statement of Claim
  • Motion for substituted service
  • Motion to compel the production of undertakings, questions taken under advisement and refusals
  • Motion to transfer the jurisdiction of a case to another jurisdiction
  • Motion to have an action heard at the same time, or one after another along with another matter
  • Contested motions for a Plaintiff to attend a second or third defence medical examination
  • Motion for Judgment for the approval of an infant settlement

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Cases can be similar. But not the same. No two cases are alike.

The same can be said for Judges. They can be similar, but they aren’t the same. No two Judges are alike; nor do they see things alike.

But, what the public and what personal injury lawyers look for is consistency in judicial decisions. When there are legal principals which address the same point; the same law ought to be applied; and should result in a predictable outcome once the law is applied to the case at hand.

We are going to share with you two cases, which dealt with the exact same thing. Yet, the outcomes were completely different! This doesn’t happen often, but it can happen.

Both cases involve car accident cases dealing with minors (people under the age of 18). When there is a Plaintiff, or a claimant under the age of 18; personal injury lawyers and insurance companies seek for Judges to approve of the settlement. There are many policy reasons for this. It’s a good public policy to protect the interests and the rights of minors. We want to make sure that the settlement is equitable and just. We want to make sure that the minor’s funds aren’t misappropriated. We don’t want the minors coming back to the Courts once they’ve hit the age of majority and suggest that the settlement was improvident; or something which they should never have agreed to in the first place. These policy reasons are important both for Plaintiffs and Defendants alike.

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