I’m constantly asked time and time again when the best time is to sue in their personal injury, car accident or brain injury case. The only right answer to any of these questions is to sue in your case before your limitation period expires. That’s legal advice you can bet your house on.
Limitation periods in personal injury cases vary. It doesn’t matter the location of the accident. The laws for limitation periods in injury case are not all the same.
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An article recently caught my eye in the Globe and Mail. It told the story of an Ottawa Pee Wee AA hockey team.
8 of the 17 players on the hockey team were forced to miss games on account of concussion. That sounds bad; doesn’t it? That sounds completely insane! What parent would sign up their kid for a game only to get concussed! How physical are these Pee Wee hockey games anyway?
What sounds even worse is saying that 8 of the 17 players on the Ottawa Pee Wee AA hockey team missed games on account of brain injury.
Make no mistake, a concussion is a brain injury.
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The amount of money at stake in catastrophic accident benefit claims can be very significant. Millions of dollars can be required for future attendant care benefits, future medical/rehabilitative benefits or otherwise.
An insurance company is under no obligation to lump out your accident benefit claim. If you die in 5 years, then why should an insurer be on the hook for payment of your future benefits today, when you’re not around to use them?
On the other hand, a closed file is a good file for an insurance company. Sometimes, it pays for them to simply pay off a significant portion of the claim to make you go away so they can close their file.
Because there are contingencies for millions of dollars in benefits flowing from the insurance company to the accident victim, the insurance company may insist in putting that money into what’s called a structured settlement.
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It’s gets really cold and snowy in Toronto, London, Peterborough and other parts of Ontario. That’s why so many of us Ontarians flee the cold weather for warmer pastures in the winter.
My wife and I are just like you. We don’t like the cold very much so we recently went to Florida to leave for a Caribbean cruise. It was a blast. Editorial note: we were on the largest cruise ship in the word; what a treat! (go during an off season as it was 75-80% full).
We flew in to Miami, stayed with a friend, and he took us to Fort Lauderdale. We were so happy that we wouldn’t be rushed to catch our cruise ship straight from the airport. We thought we were being smart. We had plenty of time to pack up our stuff and catch our boat. But enroute to our ship, we were involved in a car accident. Can you believe that! It seems like my work as a Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers just follows me wherever I go!
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Car insurance is expensive and complicated. It’s the last thing people think about when purchasing a new vehicle. It’s also the last thing which personal injury lawyers want to write about, and explain to people. I’m asked all the time, why it’s necessary to have car insurance if you don’t plan in getting to a car accident. Well, nobody plans to get in a car accident, unless you’re a fraudster who stages car accidents in Toronto; drive Monster Truck or your name is Evel Knievel.
For starters, having car insurance is the law in Ontario. If you drive a car, truck, van or motorcycle, the Insurance Act requires that you have a valid policy of car insurance. If you’re driving a car or motorized vehicle without a valid policy of car insurance, then you’re breaking the law and putting yourself at enormus risk. If you’re driving with a policy of car insurance which has expired, then you’re driving with no insurance.
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Got car insurance: Check Got a car: Check Driving the car in Ontario: Check Seat Belt on: Check Following the rules of the road: Check Crash Boom Bang Car Accident resulting in serious personal injuries requiring a personal injury lawyer: Got Goldfinger Injury Lawyers: Check
Alright. So what’s next? Let’s only focus on the accident benefit part of this claim and NOT the tort part. The tort part is a completely separate process and won’t get you immediate money. Accident benefits were designed by the government and insurance companies to get injured accident victims money in their time of need regardless of whose fault the accident was. This is why we pay for insurance right?
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Social media at its finest; or social media at its worst. Depends on who you ask.
This holiday season, police are reporting catching a record amount of impaired drivers through the R.I.D.E. program. This is great as it’s keeping impaired drivers off the streets to reduce the possibilty of a car accident.
But, police are also reporting that a number of people are using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to alert others where R.I.D.E checks are being set up, so that the spot checks can be avoided. This is disturbing news for so many reasons. From the eyes of a personal injury lawyer, I can tell you that some of the most devastating personal injury cases I have seen have been as a result of someone’s poor judgment to drink and drive, which resulted in catastrophic injury.
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http://www.lawtimesnews.com/Focus-On/Litigation-looms-over-minor-injury-cases
Litigation looms over injury cases No consensus on which matters fall within updated guidelines
Monday, October 17, 2011 | Written by Judy Van Rhijn | |
As you may know, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers recently expanded our territory, by opening a new office in London, ON. We are located in the heart of downtown London, at 341 Talbot Street, right next to the John Labatt Centre (Go Knights!) and the Farmer’s Market. If you’re ever in town, come by and check out our London office. Some say it’s nicer than our Toronto office, but I’ll let you be the judge of that. By opening our London office, we hope to better serve our clients in Southwestern Ontario. We’ve seen lots of new clients from London, Saint Thomas, Rodney, Bleheim, Oxford, Embro, Thurold, Arva, Drumbo, Blenheim, Chatham, Woodstock, Thames Centre, Ingersoll, Kintore, Thorndale and Tillsonburg. We are proud to serve these under-represented communities and provide these individuals with access to Ontario’s courts and access to justice.
What can I tell you about about practicing in Southwestern Ontario? It snows snows snows out here. And with snow comes slush, ice, poor road conditions and poor visibility. With poor road conditions and poor visibility comes more accidents.
Here are some of the top 5 questions/scenarios we’ve seen or been asked this winter:
Ontario has a very complicated accident benefits system for car accidents. Car accident lawyers have to keep up with the changes in the laws, which occur regularly.
If you or a loved one has been hurt or injured in a car accident, you are allowed to claim accident benefits. For some, the most important group of accident benefits are those relating to income, caregiver and non-earner benefits. All of these benefits represent money which is potentially available to you in the event that you are not able to lead a normal life as a result of your car accident.
The thing that insurance companies DO NOT tell you, is that you have the right to chose which benefits you would like. This is called an “election”, and there is a special form that you must complete in order to elect one of these three benefits. If you DO NOT elect one of these three benefits, then the insurance company will pick a benefit for you; and it will likely be a benefit which is advantageous for them, and not for you.
Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog