Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: April 7, 2026

My case on why Toronto Raptors Management should not manage an Insurance Company or a Personal Injury Law Firm

I love it when I can combine by two favourite topics: the Toronto Raptors and Personal Injury Law into the same blog entry. I’ve been a lifelong Toronto Raptors Fan. I’ve been there since Game #1. I’ve been a fan of the NBA even before the Toronto Raptors came to town.

This year has been really difficult, particularly in the 2nd half of the season, to watch the Toronto Raptors play basketball. They are poorly managed, poorly coached, with pieces which are overpaid which and which don’t fit properly on a basketball court. The product is not entertaining, and the future of the team isn’t looking very bright when you consider the long term investments they’ve made into certain key players.

Running an insurance company, or a personal injury law firm requires someone at the top to make shrewd business and management decisions. The same can be said for running the Toronto Raptors.

The performance of the employees at an insurance company, or at a personal injury law firm is largely outside of management’s hands. Either those employees perform to a high standard which has been set by management, or they don’t. Management will set up targets, procedures, protocols and quality control inspections; but it’s not their job to do the work which the employees are being paid to do. Good management will put their employees in positions to succeed, with the tools they need to succeed. Bad management will do the opposite.

The same can be said of management of the Toronto Raptors. It’s not Bobby Webster’s job (current general manager of the Toronto Raptors) to make jump shots or play defence. Rather, it’s his job to build a roster, coaching staff, and operations team; and then for targets, goals and standards to be set which are either met/followed; or not.

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Published on: April 2, 2026

Multiple Accidents, Multiple Deductibles

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Some people are very unlucky. The act of getting into an accident is very lucky in and of itself.

The person is simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time; and as a result, they’ve been involved in a serious accident and sustained very serious injuries.

Sometimes these people are the in the wrong place, at the wrong time, but on multiple occasions. So, instead of being involved in one accident, they are involved in two, or three accidents.

It doesn’t just have to a car, bike or motorcycle accident. It could be a lot of things. One car accident; one bike accident; one slip and fall accident; one dog bite. It doesn’t matter because the impact to the Plaintiff is all the same. It just adds to their damages, injuries, pain, suffering and their ability to carry out a normal life. Just when you thought you were on your way back to making a recovery, or returning to work, the second, or third, or even fourth accident completely derails all of the hard work you’ve put in to your rehabilitation. This experience can be incredibly frustrating and depressing.

Things don’t get better when insurance lawyers look at the situation. In fact, many insurance lawyers like to hear that there are multiple accidents.

Why is that? Are they actively rooting for the person to get into an accident because they find enjoyment in the pain and suffering for another human being? Absolutely not.

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Published on: March 27, 2026

Winning and Losing in Personal Injury Cases

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

My son has been playing competitive soccer in Ontario since he was 5 years old.

The competitive soccer landscape has changed a lot since the days of when I played.

When I played, there were scores and standings. There were stakes such that the games meant something. There were winners, and there were losers. And sometimes, because it’s soccer, there were even ties! There were championships to be won and lost. There was the thrill of victory, along with the agony of defeat.

From a soccer perspective, children were able to learn the right way to win. The good coaches taught the children to win with grace and dignity, and respect for their opponents. They were taught not to be a poor sport winner, or cocky, or gloating when winning.

On the flip side, children learned not only to loose, but how to loose without being a sore loser. Losing is part of sport and is a hard thing to learn, and a hard feeling to have to deal with. But, if you weren’t able to cope with losing, or to bounce back after a loss, then you wouldn’t be able to play. Even the greatest athletes of all time have lost.

Children learned how to play the game with a lead. And also learned how to play from behind to secure a dramatic comeback win. These environments built character which is difficult to teach. It was learned in an environment almost impossible to replicate, through a shared experience with teammates and coaches who were going through the same thing.

Soccer however, at least in the sanctioned world of Ontario Soccer, has changed. Before the age of 13, there are no standings. There are no scores. There are no winners. There are no losers. You can say that every game, regardless of the performance of the teams, or the individual players, ends up in a tie because scores are not even recorded. No games have meaning. There are no stakes. And, because there are no stakes, that means that there is no pressure to win, or consequence of losing. This is much too egalitarian and there are repercussions to such a system.

What happens when scores and standings are introduced? What happens when the children encounter an environment where there are objective winners and losers? How will the children handle this given that they have been raised in a system where there are no stakes when they play their games? Children won’t build character. They won’t build resilience, or toughness, or grit. They don’t learn the right way to win, or how to loose. The just play the game, without any sort of emotional growth because all of the touchstones have been rubbed out because they’ve been deemed as too sharp for children to deal with.

Winning has become demonized in this system. Declaring a “winner” or a “champion” is viewed upon as an evil term because by being declared the winner, it means that you or someone had to defeat a set of opponents. This is seen as a giant wrong for soccer playing children in Ontario under the age of 13 years old.

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Published on: March 19, 2026

Should I speak with the Insurance Company?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

People are born inherently good. They want to do good unto others. Perhaps I’m naive, but I firmly believe in this.

But, things can get tricky when there are other motivations at stake.

Insurance companies are just that. They are companies. They aren’t people who are set out to do good in the world. Quite the contrary. While “doing good” or “acting kindly” might be part of their corporate literature, or the public face which they put out to the world; their staring goal and ending goal is always to make money. These are large, multi national and publicly traded corporations. They exist to turn a profit. The aren’t registered charities.

Insurers turn to people to run their day to day operations. Your claim will be assigned to a real life human in the form an an insurance adjuster. And, this person will reach out to you over the phone to make initial contact about your case in an attempt to put a human touch to your case. The phone call(s) which you have with the adjuster will likely be recorded for what they call “customer service” or “training purposes“. And these calls are often very polite, cheery and cordial because people want to connect on a human level.

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Published on: March 11, 2026

Bad Evidence in Your Car Accident Case will Produce an Inaccurate Result at Trial

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

As a personal injury lawyer, I see a lot of police reports. The majority of the police reports which my law firm sees deal with car accident cases. And as you know, car accidents happen for a lot of reasons. Some are honest mistake driving errors. People were simply not paying proper attention to the road, or made a mistake while driving.

Some car accidents happen for more serious reasons like driving while distracted on a cell phone, or drunk driving.

Regardless of how the car accident happened, the police are responsible for investigating these car accidents, reporting them accurately, and charging the at fault driver when it’s appropriate to do so.

In recent years, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers has seen the trend of police officers asking drivers who have been involved in car accidents to “self report” the accidents to a self reporting collision centre.

We saw this sort of thing years ago when the damage to the vehicles was minimal, and there were no personal injuries to report. This made sense in the vein of no harm, no foul.

But, nowadays we are seeing a more disturbing trend. More serious accidents; ie; accidents where there is serious property damage along with personal injuries are also being self reported because the police aren’t taking the time to report these accidents themselves.

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Published on: March 4, 2026

Methadone Dispensing and Methadone Dispensing Errors

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Methadone is a synthetic, long release opioid used to treat chronic pain along with addiction to heroine and opioid drugs. Doctors are using a drug, to treat drug addiction. Only this is done in a safe and measured way such that the user is slowly weened off the drug. Being prescribed methadone by a doctor can help reduce cravings or urges to use illicit drugs (heroine) and can also stabilize individuals so that they can get their lives back.

There have been a lot of success stories from proper and monitored methadone use. People who were once addicts and in a dark place see the light and are able to rehabilitate and return to living a positive and productive life. They are able to successfully reintegrate into society and function properly. It’s no longer the drugs talking. People have regained their lives.

Methadone dispensing is monitored by a doctor, and dispensed by a regulated health care professional like a pharmacist. These are people who have been trained to know what they’re doing. Because if they don’t, or if they make a mistake, there can be terrible consequences.

Unfortunately, our law firm Goldfinger Injury Lawyers is seeing the consequences of what happens when methadone clinics aren’t properly doing their jobs.

What do we mean by this? How is it that a methadone clinic isn’t doing their job?

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Published on: February 27, 2026

The New Version of the OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

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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Published on: February 18, 2026

Ontario Residents and Accidents Outside of Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

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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Published on: February 6, 2026

Seat Belt Laws on Public Transit?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

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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Published on: January 26, 2026

In 2026 “they” are too eager to shut it down for a Snow Day

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

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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