Articles Posted in Car Accident

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The Global Pandemic has been hard on people for different reasons. Those reasons may be economic, social, psychological, health related, something else, or a combination of a variety of factors. Whatever the reason might be, the Global Pandemic has impacted all of us in one way, shape or form.

The field of personal injury law is no exception.

Lawyer across Ontario have seen different systems come in place which we’ve all needed to adapt to and make work. Courts have released new practice directions; it would seem on a near weekly basis for lawyers and litigants to tell us how the Courts will work in this new world. Some months jury trials are being heard. Other months jury trials are not being heard. The same applies for contested motions or applications.

Below is a list of trends and predictions for the field of personal injury law in Ontario which have been brought on by the Global Pandemic. Now that things appear to be opening up, we all may see more changes yet to come.

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You have to believe in your own case. If you don’t believe in it, then who will?

If you don’t care, then who will?

If you don’t try to help yourself, then who will.

While this may sound like self respect or motivational mumbo jumbo; it’s true!

A good personal injury lawyer will believe in you and believe in your case. If they are taking the case on a contingency fee basis; meaning don’t pay anything unless the case settles; then the personal injury lawyer ought not be investing his/her time in the case to begin with.

If the personal injury lawyer doesn’t see the case as a “Winner“, then why are they wasting their time and resources on a case doomed to fail? The personal injury lawyer is quite literally putting their money where their mouth is and taking on your case free of charge without any guarantee of recovery until the end of the case should it settle or should the Plaintiff win at trial. If the case is a loser, the personal injury lawyer losses too. That means that the goals of the personal injury lawyer and the client are aligned. And that’s a good thing. The more money the client receives, the more money the personal injury lawyer can bill in fees.

A wise personal injury lawyer will do his/her best to invest in clients whose cases they believe in. They will invest in clients they deem to have worthwhile causes which will render fruitful outcomes for both client and lawyer alike. Investing in too many cases which are going nowhere is a loss for the client,  and a loss for the personal injury lawyer.

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If you’ve sustained serious and permanent injuries in car accident, you recover damages against the at fault driver.

Standard policy limits in Ontario sit at $1,000,000. Ontarians can purchase optional benefits to increase their coverage, but only few ever pick up that option (mostly personal injury lawyers, insurance adjusters, insurance brokers and insurance defence lawyers…notice a trend…mostly people in the know).

In some cases, those policy limits are greater than $1,000,000. Often commercial carriers have policy limits of $5,000,000 or greater. Sometimes your car insurance combines with your home insurance creating what’s called an umbrella policy or umbrella coverage, thereby increasing the policy limits from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 in coverage.

It’s a good thing for an injured accident victim when there are greater policy limits. It means that the injured party will realistically be able to recover more damages in their personal injury case, if they are entitled to those damages at law.

To understand this concept of recovery, let’s examine what happens when policy limits are inadequate to satisfy a claim.

Let’s say that the claim is worth $1,500,000, but there are is only a $1,000,000 limit under the policy. The first $1,000,000 will be covered by the insurance company pursuant to the insurance policy. This leaves a shortfall for the claim of $500,000.

It will be Defendant’s personal responsibility to cover this $500,000 shortfall in the event they don’t have a policy which will cover the excess amount owing. This $500,000 is not insurable under the standard car insurance policy. The Plaintiff can secure a judgment against the Defendant personally and seize or lien his/her assets; or even garnish his/her wages until the Judgment is satisfied. Please note that Ontario Works payments are NOT subject to garnishment. What is however subject to garnishment are regular pay cheques/wages.

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Has someone other than you driven your car without your knowledge?

What happens if that mystery person gets in to a car accident?

What happens if you knowingly loan your vehicle to someone else to drive; and that person gets in to a car accident; but it turns out that the driver was operating your vehicle without a driver’s license or with a suspended driver’s license?

What happens if you loan your vehicle to a driver who was specified as an excluded driver under the policy?

While these hypothetical fact patterns may seem a bit remote, or foolish, they happen more than you think!

Cases such as these often see their way up the the Court of Appeal, or try to get heard at the Supreme Court. Leave to appeal is sometimes granted, and sometimes denied. Nonetheless, these coverage issues do not stop the parties from trying to get their cases heard before the Supreme Court. These cases drive the law in one direction or another. Often large insurers will spend a disproportionate amount of money arguing these coverage claims given that they will impact present and future coverage disputes. What this means is if on the face of the claim, the parties agree that the damages would range between $40,000-$100,000; insurers will spend that money if not more arguing the disputes. These are business decisions based upon legal principals in order to get the law right. And when I mean right, I mean working in favour of an insurer to deny coverage and not the other way around.

The grand lesson from all of these hypotheticals and decisions is that it’s very important to know who you are loaning your car to, and to know whether or not that person is allowed to legally drive. If not, you could end up in the wrong without coverage.

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After you’ve been seriously injured, or even not so seriously injured in a car accident, or motorcycle accident in Ontario, the injured party; regardless of fault is entitle to accident benefits.

This is what Ontario’s “no fault” scheme of accident benefits is all about.

If you are not at fault for the car accident you’re entitled to receive accident benefits.

If you are completely at fault for the car accident you’re entitled to receive accident benefits.

If you were the passenger of a vehicle involved in a car accident you’re entitled to receive accident benefits.

If you were a pedestrian or cyclist struck by a motor vehicle; even if you don’t know the identity of the other driver; guess what: you’re entitled to receive accident benefits (even if you’re at fault for causing the car accident in the first place!).

Crazy right? Even if you cause the accident, you are entitled to receive accident benefits to assist with your recovery, attendant care needs, income replacement benefits or non earner benefits.

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It’s amazing that no matter how many times we write about it; speak about it; or broadcast our thoughts on radio, podcast, newspaper or television; that so few people know what to do after a car accident in Ontario.

This is very important, because there are tight time lines which you may be dealing with. Getting things done properly, and in a timely manner can be the difference between getting the benefits you need or being denied benefits.

Doing things the right way, and in a timely manner is particularly important during COVID given that things are moving slowly on a good day.

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The OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits is the first, and arguably, the most important form for starting any accident benefit claim following a car accident.

If you don’t know what accident benefits are; you can learn all about them on the Goldfinger Injury Lawyers Website, or the Toronto Injury Lawyers Blog. Our personal injury lawyers frequently discuss accident benefits, what they are, their value and how they work to clients and prospective clients alike. There is a lot of discussion about accident benefits because they’re so important (and confusing too!).

In Ontario, we have a no fault system of insurance following a car accident. These no fault benefits are referred to as accident benefits. They are NOT damages for pain and suffering. Accident Benefits are created by, and legislated under the Insurance Act and the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. These accident benefits are constantly changing because the provincial government is constantly tinkering with them. This results in many amendments to the Insurance Act and to the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule which makes things very confusing for consumers, lawyers and insurance representatives alike.

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Wednesday July 1st is Canada Day. Can you believe it?

Because of COVID, most people are uncertain what day of the week it is. Let alone month or date. When it comes to stat holidays? Forget about it! Every day feels like a Tuesday on repeat like some cruel real life edition of the cult comedy Ground Hog Day starring Bill Murray.

For most, Canada Day is full of fond memories like spending time at the cottage, lake, pool, BBQs or at family get togethers. It’s a time to decompress, enjoy the warm summer weather and kick back. It’s also a time where you get a day off work to relax.

This Canada Day will likely be a really weird one because of COVID.

For starters, mass gatherings like those at a community picnic, BBQ, concert or celebration like we see across the nation (particularly in Ottawa) either won’t be happening or will be happening much differently and on a much smaller scale. I don’t expect to see any sort of mass gatherings like we are accustom to seeing for Canada Day 2020.

But this doesn’t mean that people aren’t going to be out and about trying to get the most out of this celebratory day.

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Continuing with our COVID theme of straight facts and no filler or wonky political spin, for this week’s edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, we will be focusing on Accident Benefit Claims in Ontario.

Why are we doing this?

Because we are finding so much misinformation going around right now during the Pandemic, we want to give people easy to understand legal information which won’t take forever to sort through. It also won’t require the reader to be a political analyst or medical expert to understand.

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Toronto’s new initiative to provide safer streets for cycling and walking is a step in the right direction but
will require a cooperative effort from drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, says Toronto personal injury lawyer
Brian Goldfinger.

As part of its ActiveTO program, the city is transforming some major roads into “quiet streets,” giving
people space to be physically active while observing social distancing protocols.

“This is a great idea, especially for an urban environment,” Goldfinger notes. “As a result of COVID-19,
there are fewer people taking mass transit. People are getting around on bikes a lot more these days,
whether it’s to commute to work, or for pleasure. It’s not a war on cars, but more of an evolution of our
roadways.”

Toronto Mayor John Tory says the city will soon have more than 50 kilometres of quiet streets, including
areas like Kensington Market and Havenbrook Boulevard, reports CP24.

Signs and temporary barricades will be placed on neighbourhood streets to allow local car traffic only and
open up space for people who walk, run, use wheelchairs and bike, states the city’s website.

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