Accident Benefits

Published on: May 6, 2015

Reviewing the changes (cuts) to Ontario Car Insurance: Pay More Get Less Yet Again

The governing Liberals announced Ontario’s budget on April 23, 2015. Finance Minister Charles Sousa, backed by Premier Kathleen Wynne were in fine form that day. When one thinks of the term “budget“, we would think of all things financial, including taxes, public spending on healthcare, infrastructure, and education. And to be fair, healthcare, infrastructure and education were all addressed in the 2015 budget.

But what often gets swept under the rug without any debate, deliberation or consultation with stake holders is CAR INSURANCE.

Why is this such an important topic? Well, for starters, if you want to drive a car in Ontario, you need to have car insurance. It’s the law. Check the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act. That’s right. Ontario has a specific act regarding operating a motor vehicle WITH car insurance.

So, if Ontarians are required to operate a motor vehicle with car insurance, then it’s going to be important to all motorists in the province. This amounts to a lot of people. And if all of these people need to have car insurance, then the product they’re required to purchase better be a good product, and protect their rights in the event of property or physical damage.

For insurance companies, car insurance is important because it’s a way for them to make money. What the legislation says regarding what insurers are required, and not provided to require under these policies of insurance goes straight to their bottom lines. The more they can charge by providing the least amount of benefits will increase their profits and make their shareholders happy.

For politicians car insurance is important because if rates are too high, then voters are unhappy. So, the aim of politicians when tinkering with car insurance is to get the cost of car insurance down. But how do they do that? The government doesn’t set car insurance rates. But they do however legislate what benefits are required to be provided in said policies and how benefits work; which ought to have some form of correlation with the price of car insurance (among other factors such as driving record, age, where you reside, driving experience, and the type of vehicle your drive).

So how has car insurance in Ontario been affected since the new budget was announced? Keep reading and I will share that with you.

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Published on: April 30, 2015

What to do immediately following your car accident (Ontario): The blitz

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

The time immediately following your car accident can me the most difficult time; and the most important time in terms of getting your case on to the right start.

There is a LOT of work to do immediately following your car accident. Lawyers know this. Insurance adjusters know this. Unfortunately, the general public doesn’t know this.

I can say with utmost certainty, that the amount of work required on behalf of accident victims and their families has gone up exponentially with the introduction of no-fault accident benefits in Ontario. This no fault accident benefit scheme was supposed to protect consumers (that means every day Ontario drivers like you and me).

In the beginning, I’m sure that it did. The system was not as complicated, not as adversarial, and did not have a myriad of forms or medical experts who focus on only in accident benefit claims. Nowadays, the system has more forms than you could ever possibly imagine; concentrated clinics and health care professionals who only handle treatment for car accident cases; along with a backlog of over 60,000 mediation and arbitration cases dealing specifically with accident benefits before the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).

By completing one form incorrectly, you may be jeopardizing your case from the start. How so? Take the example of electing or FAILING TO ELECT for the proper benefit following your car accident. If you elect an Income Replacement Benefit, but you weren’t making any income before your accident, you may have been better off electing the Non-Earner Benefit. How do you make an Election? You have to complete the OCF-10 Election Form. If you aren’t a lawyer or somebody who works in the car insurance industry, you likely don’t have the foggiest idea about the variety of benefits available, how to claim those benefits, and what on earth to do with all of these forms. This is why the start of the case is such an important and difficult time. Getting your case off on the wrong foot can forever jeopardize an otherwise meritorious claim.

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Published on: October 15, 2014

Car Accidents in Northern Ontario (Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Our lawyers represent clients from all across Ontario.

From Southwest Ontario, Toronto, all the way to the Northern most part of this great province.

I will be in Thunder Bay this month, and next month helping out innocent accident victims. People want to know what sort of differences we see in our cases from more urban settings such as London, Hamilton or Toronto, compared to more remote settings in the Northern Parts of Ontario.

I can tell you that it doesn’t matter where you are; we see plenty of odd and strange stuff. Having said that, the odd and strange things we see in Northern Ontario are unique to Northern Ontario. Don’t believe me? Try these cases out for size!
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Published on: October 2, 2014

Car Accident Claims and Barriers to Justice (Ontario)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Our team of lawyers and staff at our firm have seen some very odd stuff this week which we’d like to share with our Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog readership.

There’s no doubt in our minds that what our clients have gone through this week have posed barriers to not only compensation; but barriers to justice all on account of administrative error and incompetence by public/government agencies.

In order to truly appreciate and understand these errors, you really need to understand the car accident and insurance system, and the roles which different actors and government agencies play.

I will do my very best to keep the legal jargon to a minimum so that even people far removed from car accident litigation can understand how these errors and incompetence have impacted persons lives.
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Published on: June 5, 2014

Medical Treatment after a Car Accident (Ontario)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

So; you’ve been involved in a serious car accident. You were taken by ambulance to hosptial. They did a few x-rays, scans, gave you some pills, and told you to follow up with your family doctor.

Or, the injuries were more serious, and you were an in-patient at the hospital for a few days or weeks, and discharged home or to a long term health car facility (and then home afterwards).

Many people ask me where is the BEST place to recieve treatment following their respective car accident.

The right answer is that there is no single BEST place for treatment. At the end of the day, it’s important that you attend a doctor or rehabiliation facilty that’s right for you; and that you’re most comfortable with.

Rule of thumb: much like going to the gym to excercise; the closer the rehabiliation facility, the greater the likelihood that you will be diligent with your treatment. The longer the commute, the great chance tha you will miss out on appointments. That’s not good for your treatment, and certainly not good for your case.
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Published on: May 7, 2014

What does Incurred Expense for claiming Attendant Care Benefits mean?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

The laws continue to get tougher and tougher on accident victims in Ontario for no apparent reason.

Why?

It’s not like the victim of a drunk driving accident did anything wrong. So why is it then that innocent accident victims are being treated like criminals at every turn when dealing with large insurance companies? Is this the new reality?

It seems this way because it really is this way.

When No Fault Accident Benefits were introduced in Ontario circa the 1980’s, it was introduced as “consumer protection legislation” intended at helping accident victims recover from their injuires. In plain English, the laws were created and intended to PROTECT and ASSIST the CONSUMER (that’s you), in your time of need.

There was a contract in place between insured and insurer. The driver would pay premiums to the insurer. In return, should the driver need the insurer’s assistance, the insurer would step in and provide benefits to their insured so they could get back on their feet to business as usual.

So where did things go wrong?
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