Articles Posted in Car Accident

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Personal Injury Law and insurance claims handling practices have trends.

Just like we see trends for runway fashion, or trends on a celebrity packed red carpet; we see trends for accident law. What’s hip, sexy, or cool for one insurer, or for one judge on a case, will likely apply to the next insurer or judge. It’s a copy cat industry.

Now law isn’t as trivial or fickle as the world of fashion. It takes judges to rule on the law. It takes politicians to create law. It takes people to elect those politicians who make the law. All it takes is one fashion designer to create the next “big hit“.

Other lawyers who don’t practice personal injury law want to know what’s new, and what’s changed with Ontario’s car accident law. Let me assure that you LOTS has changed in the last few months alone. Leave it up to our law firm to keep you up to date with those “hottest trends“.

Did you ever think that personal injury law could be so cool and hip? Me neither.
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Ontario’s Chief Justice, Annemarie Bonkalo recently signed an order approving the fine for distracted driving to increase from $155 to $280 effective March 18, 2014.

Want a copy of the Judicial Order? Here you go. Short, sweet and to the point.

This fine increase for distracted driving in Ontario has made provincial and national headlines. I really don’t know why as I think the fine being set so low is an embarrassment and an insult to the families and accident victims of distracted drivers.

Presently, the fine for distracted driving is just $155. That’s it. Minimum wage in Ontario just went up to $11/hr. That’s under two days of work over a 7.5 hour work day to pay off a distracted driving penalty for almost killing somebody or rendering them a quadriplegic.

So, what’s the big deal and why be so hard on distracted drivers? I mean, everybody seems to do it. It’s just a phone call, a quick text or a simple email; right? I’ve seen a Kardashian send out a VINE Video while driving, so it’s gotta be cool to do it!

Distracted driving is just as bad as dunk driving. Yes, I made the comparison. Shocked? Bold words, I know. But, our law firm sees the realities of distracted driving every day. To give you evidence of how serious the problem is, the US Government has its own OFFICIAL WEBSITE DEVOTED TO THE DANGERS OF DISTRACTED DRIVING. If you didn’t take the problem seriously before, maybe you will now that Barack Obama, the world’s most powerful world leader, got his own country to design a website and set up an agency devoted to increasing awareness.
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When I show clients their files, often; they are astounded by the amount of paper involved in handling their case.

Even in a “paperless system“, we still print medical records, medical reports, pleadings etc. for mediation memos, briefs and Affidavits of Documents. At the end of the day, personal injury law involves a LOT of paper.

One of the most important pieces of paper which accident victims will likely sign in the course of their case is something called a “Release“. If you’re signing a Release, that means that like 99% of civil cases out there; that your case has settled outside of Court. Congrats.

A lot of our clients get worried when they’re asked by an insurer to sign a Release. They think that they’re signing their lives away by signing it. That should not be the case. Your lawyer should explain to you exactly what you’re signing, and why you’re signing it.
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Johnny Careless was an interesting fellow. To say that he went against the grain is an under statement. Johnny rode his bike without a helmet. He drove his car without wearing a seat belt. He crossed busy intersections against red lights and don’t walk signals. He texted while driving. He wasn’t one to follow rules. Whether it would be the rules of sport, the public library, or the rules of the road provided under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act. He was, quite simply, a careless individual.

Johnny was going nowhere fast. But all that changed one fine autumn day when Johnny was a passenger in his buddy Ricki Rhodes Chevy Camaro. Ricki was just like Johnny, a careless guy who didn’t much care for rules. Ricki was driving at excessive speeds along Highway 401, West of Mississauga, and lost control of his car causing it to strike head on into the side rail. Johnny didn’t remember what happened. He lost consciousness in the accident. All he remembers is waking up with blood on his face, on a stretcher with flashing ambulance lights glaring at him. Doctors told Johnny that he sustained a traumatic brain injury, along with a fractured ankle and 4 broken ribs. Ouch is right.
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Full disclosure. I’ve seen first how working long hours can impair your judgment.

Doctors, Residents and Medical Students have ludicrous call demands/schedules at teaching hospitals. You should see them post call! Lawyers, Clerks and Articling Students have ridiculous deadlines to meet and pull all nights all too often. You should see them the morning after the all-niter. Taxi Drivers work LONG shifts day after day (and their job is to drive others). Police officers, paramedics and firemen also have some pretty crazy hours.

But the story about the unpaid intern, Andy Ferguson in Alberta is no joke and speaks to the dangers of working LONG LONG hours then driving home.

First, our thoughts of everyone here at our law office are with Andy Ferguson’s family right now. In case you haven’t heard, Andy was a 22 year old UNPAID intern with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He was completing an internship in order to graduate. He needed to complete a certain amount of hours in order to get his degree. Andy’s internship was at a radio station owned by Astral Media called “The Bear“, a pop rock radio station in Edmonton.

Andy was asked to intern the overnight shift. He didn’t want to. He had just completed 3 previous overnight nights, and was now asked to work a 4th. He was told that if he wanted to complete his practicum, he would just shut and do what he was told.

Andy was NOT happy, as evinced in a text messages to his girlfriend. He wrote to her “F*ck this place“. In a draft email to his professor at the University, which never got sent, he wrote “it would be nice if the people I worked under showed a little more appreciation and respect for myself“.
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Did you know that if you’ve been involved in a car accident, that there’s a $30,000 deductible for your pain and suffering claim? That means the first $30,000 of your pain and suffering award essentially vanishes. NOTE: This deductible does NOT apply to claims over $100,000.

Also of note, before September 1, 2010, the $30,000 deductible was $15,000; meaning it doubled overnight. In the 1980’s, there was NO DEDUCTIBLE whatsoever.

Some people call my office telling me they’ve been seriously injured in a car accident. When our law firm explains to them how the deductible works for car accident law in Ontario, you can hear their jaws drop to the floor. I mean literally, drop to the floor.

Who on earth would implement a law which says that the first $30,000 of your pain and suffering claim is essentially worthless. Our government; that’s who. But who do you think suggested that our government bring in these laws. It’s sure as not your neighbour who did; because your neighbour doesn’t know and doesn’t really care about how car insurance works.
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Privacy is all the rage these days. It’s a very “chic” topic amongst lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians alike.

Don’t want to disclose a document? Tell the other side that you have privacy concerns. Lawyers will say that the document is privileged. Then the lawyers can wait a year to duke it out in Court before a Judge.

Government office doesn’t want to disclose a document to a prodding newsie? Privacy.

In personal injury cases, we lawyers rely on police officers and government offices to get critical source data to help build, and better establish our clients’ cases. In order to get to the bottom of the accident, we need to carefully examine to Motor Vehicle Accident Report, Photographs, Witness Statements, Accident Reconstruction Reports, Audio Tapes, Video Tapes and any hand written polices officers notes. Without this information, it would be very difficult, if not impossible for lawyers to make a case in your favour; better yet even understand who the at-fault party is and how the accident happened.
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This weekend I watched the re-airing of a CTV W5 special on police officers in major Canadian cities such as Toronto, London and Peterborough supposedly having quotas to hand out traffic tickets. No chief of police admitted that their force had quotas for their officers to hand out tickets. But, the chief of police from a large city on the West Coast put it like this. If an officer works a 10 hour shift, and doesn’t hand out any tickets, you know that something is wrong, or that officer isn’t properly doing their job.

One of the most interesting points of the broadcast was that traffic tickets were a major form of revenue for a City. And the more money which a City or Municipality raises via ticketing, the more money it will presumably have to spend for police resources. Or, conversely, the less likely that city or municipality will look at cutting police services because it’s a major income generator via ticketing. Here is a link to that CTV W5 story if you’re interested.

What upset motorists and the general public was that such a large degree of resources was being allocated towards ticketing, and not towards preventing violent crime, organized crime or drugs.
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Let me preface this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post by stating that I have nothing against insurance adjusters. Really. I don’t. It’s a job. The work is steady. The hours are probably ok. The so called “work-life” balance is there. Pay is good. Benefits gotta be good if you’re working for an insurer.

We get calls at our office from people who have recently been involved in all sorts of accidents. Car crashes, motorcycle accidents, dog bites, slip and falls. You name it. Our law firm hears about it.

People call us in a panic. Sometimes it’s because their lives have been traumatized on account of the accident. Sometimes it’s because they’re in shock. But most times it’s because they fell overwhelmed at what their next step is. The most common question we get is “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NEXT!?!?!?!“.
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Want to know what an accident benefit adjuster’s gotta do to properly handle your case car accident case? Check out the below Arbitration Appeal review of Delegate Lawrence Blackman of the Financial Services Commission on Ontario in Christopher Hoang v. The Personal Insurance Company of Canada.

Facts:

The Insured, Christropher Hoang was born on March 7, 1998. When he was just 6 years old, he was hit by a car. His right ankle was pinned under a wheel, and he lost consciousness. His Glascow Coma Scale reading was 3 out of 15; which is the lowest GCS score you can get while living. Think of being totally out of it on the ground, without responding to noise, movement, touch or any other sense. That was Mr. Hoang. He had to be resuscitated at the scene of the accident. He’s lucky to be alive.

Chris’ accident benefits were provided to him by The Personal Insurance Company. You, or a loved one might be insured by The Personal. Many clients at Goldfinger Law are insured by them. They’re a rather large insurer. You should know that The Personal is a subsidiary of Desjardins Insurance.
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