Articles Posted in Car Accident

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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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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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99% of all car accident and injury cases settle out of Court.

1% (or less) of car accident and injury cases do in fact go to trial.

Civil Trials happen in 2 ways in Ontario. They’re either Judge alone; or, they’re Judge and Jury trials.

I just read a very interesting case that was recently released to the public. It was a brain injury trial/psych injury case which the lawyers estimated would take 3 weeks to hear. Instead, the trial took over 6 weeks to be heard. A link to the case can be found here.

Also, interesting to note that in this case, the car accident took place on August 3, 2001. The trial concluded on June 27, 2013, although cost submissions are not due until the end of September 2014. For you stats guys out there who love reading the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, that’s 12 years, 10 months and 26 days between the time of the car accident, and the conclusion of the trial (not including cost submissions).

To make matters even more complicated, I believe that the lawyer for the insurance company/defendant in this case may be appealing this decision. That means that the accident victim won’t get ANY money until the appeal is heard, which could take a number of more years.
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When a police officer asks us a question, we’re taught to do our very best to co-operate. Why wouldn’t we want to co-operate with the authorities and help them do their jobs.

When I was young, we were taught in school to answer questions as best as we can. We weren’t very concerned with issues of fraud or breach of privacy as we are today.

Those hard and fast principals go out the door in a legal context.

In a legal setting, when you’re asked a question, you had better make sure that your answers aren’t going to hurt your case, or stop your case from proceeding before it’s even had a chance of getting off the ground.

These warnings don’t apply as much with authorities such as the police, as they would with insurance adjusters.

You would be amazed at the amount of personal and confidential information which accident victims freely give up to insurance companies over a simple phone call or during a simple statement.

After you’ve been involved in a serious car or motorcycle accident, it’s pretty safe to say that either one of the parties or the police will report the accident to the parties’ respective insurance companies.
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Recently, police forces from across Ontario began a 6 week distracted driving blitz. They’ve been handing out tickets left right and centre to crack down on offences like texting while driving, operating a cell phone while driving etc.

With the increase popularity and availability of smart phones, distracted driving has become a “hot button” safety issue. I remember when drunk driving was the “hot button” safe driving issue. Not that drunk driving offences are out of the public’s eye. They are now just sharing a bit of that spot light with distracted driving offences.

I remember when cell phones were are big a bricks. It was a status symbol to have one of these large cell phones. It was even a bigger status symbol to be seen chatting on that cell phone, during day time hours (when the minutes cost lost of $$$), and driving a car. That image gave off an impression of wealth, power, elevated status and success. You looked like a real shooter chatting on the cell phone while driving.

Who can forget the large centre console car phones (Cantel). They had a proper speaker feature, or you could also pull them up to your ear. The buttons were small, and you had to look down away from the windshield to make a call, or pick up the phone. These car phones were death traps; but they were also a status symbol.

Technology and times have changed significantly. With that, so has the etiquette and safety protocols of driving with a cell phone or mobile device in your car.
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If you’ve consulted with a personal injury lawyer, then you’ve likely heard, or found out that 99% of these sort of claims settle BEFORE trial.

One of the tools which lawyers use to foster settlement is called mediation.

Mediation is an important step in any legal case. In fact, mediation is so important, that in Toronto, Ottawa and Windsor, mediation is actually required BEFORE a matter can be set down for trial. The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) requires that all accident benefit disputes get mediated BEFORE they can proceed to Arbitration or to litigation. if you fail to mediate, then you can’t proceed.

Many clients want to know what they can expect at mediation. It’s a very good question considering that it’s such an important step in your case, and at the end of the day, the case might get settled if the mediation is successful. Mediation can be particularly nerve wracking for many because accident victims have never been through the process before.

The purpose of this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog post is to get you more familiar with the mediation process; what to expect; and how it works.
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Today I purchased a new car seat for my young one. The amount of safety technology they put in to car seats for little ones is astonishing. I think that an army of engineers and crash collision experts spent years developing the safety technology in the car seat. The safety features of the car seat, combined the the safety features of modern automobiles such as front and side airbags, ABS breaks, re-enforced steel etc. can really give you a sense of security.

Did I mention the sheer selection of car seats on the market? The amount of brands, combined with the amount of options makes your task as a parent a difficult one. If the sales person doesn’t know anything about the brand or safety features, then you’d better hit the internet and hit it hard. The safety of your child isn’t something you want to take for granted.

Which got me thinking. If child car seat and auto manufacturers are putting in so much thought in to child safety; what are the Courts doing to protect the interests of children and minors?

Great question!

Rule 7.08 protects the rights of minors, which are, for the purposes of the Rules of Civil Procedure; “parties under disability” under the law of Ontario. Any person under the age of 18 is a “party under disability” and will need to be represented by an adult for the purposes of the law suit.
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Yesterday, there was a fatal crash on Highway 401 just outside of Whitby. The accident involved 4 vehicles (a Toyota Corolla, a transport truck, a tour bus, and a Pontiac motor vehicle).

The transport truck hit the Corolla at around 10:30AM, so visibility was likely not an issue around that time of day. Police are still uncertain about how the accident happened, but they suspect that the transport truck rear ended the Corolla.

There were 3 passengers in the Corolla. The driver (47 years old) and front seat passenger (29 years old) was taken by ambulance to the hospital with very serious injuries. The third passenger was seated in the back seat. He passed away at the accident scene. At law, this is what we call a fatality claim. Those claims, contrary to popular belief, do not attract as big as settlement as you would think. The pain and suffering for such claims is limited from the time of the accident, to the time of the death. If the death is instantaneous, the damages for pain and suffering will not be significant.

Where the damages can get significant are where there are Family Law Act Claims, along with claims for loss of income to the family.
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You know what’s fun?

Posting status updates on Facebook.

Posting pictures on Instagram.

Posting videos on Vine.

Posting your day to day thoughts on Twitter.

Posting your new job on LinkedIn.

Social media is FUN.

But just because something is fun or popular, doesn’t mean that it’s right for you, particularly when you’re in the middle of a litigation battle against a large, deep pocketed insurance company.

The purpose of this Toronto Injury Blog Post is to show you how insurers can and WILL use social media against you to defeat your credibility and to defeat your personal injury case.
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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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