Personal Injury Lawyer

Published on: July 15, 2025

What the Toronto Raptors Roster Construction and Personal Injury Cases Have in Common (or not)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

I can’t resist the opportunity to rant and to write about two of my favourite things. In no particular order:

The Toronto Raptors
Personal Injury Law in Ontario

First, let’s examine the Toronto Raptors.

Even someone who doesn’t follow sports will remember back in 2019, the Toronto Raptors won their first ever NBA title.

It was hard even for a non sports fan to ignore their championship run given that it was covered by national and international media. The Toronto Raptors Championship Parade remains a modern day benchmark for North American public sport celebrations; trailing Argentina’s World Cup parade in Buenos Aires which saw an unprecedented turnout. That one was hard to beat.

From 2020-2023, the Toront0 Raptors implemented a new vision to modern basketball. It was dubbed as “Vision 6’9“, referring to the height and length of the players. Basically, the Raptors were trying to design a roster of players built entirely of identical frames, statures and heights. Their roster was composed namely of players who were around 6’6 to 6’10 or so; with supporting lengthy wingspans. The idea what that these players could rotate seamlessly and play multiple positions of the court, and defend different players on the court without need for any help. You were basically cloning one specific body type, and putting all 5 of those players out of the Court and having them play at the same time. It was positionless basketball.

The term I hear a lot more around the NBA is the term “measurables“. Does the player have the requisite measurables (height and wing span), to play?

If a player has the “measurables“, they are instantly more valued. If the player lacks those “measurables“, they are less valued or cast off altogether. If you don’t tick the physical boxes, you won’t get looked at, or won’t play.

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Published on: July 4, 2025

Tips for Dealing with Insurance Companies in Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

It’s not everyday you have to deal with an insurance company. It’s not an interaction which people are accustomed to.

Think about it.

You don’t need legal advice to buy a pair of shoes.

You don’t need legal advice when negotiating a price for a new/used car.

You don’t need legal advice for a parent/teacher conference at school.

You don’t need legal advice opening a bank account, or negotiating the terms of your mortgage.

What’s set out above are adult interactions which we are used to in everyday life.

But, when it comes to personal injury, car insurance and disability claims, we do need legal advice. We need legal advice because these interactions don’t happen everyday for consumers. We need legal advice because there are complicated laws around getting compensation. We need legal advice because more often than not, these claims are disputed and often end up being litigated in Court.

Given that our personal injury lawyers deal with insurance companies on a daily basis, here are some tips which we’ve procured for you based on our experience and expertise in dealing with them.

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Published on: May 8, 2025

Special Economic Zones, Personal Injury Law, and Eliminating Your Rights

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

The Ontario Government has proposed legislation to create “special economic zones” in order to speed up large scale projects such as the Ring of Fire, and a proposed tunnel under highway 401 in order to reduce traffic.

The Bill is called Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act (Bill 5 ) detailed of which can be found here.

As an aside, I love it how governments name their bills. Be forewarned. The name of bills often does the exact opposite of it’s name. It’s a PR play in an attempt at misdirection (kinda like how a magician pulls off a magic trick). It gets the public to look one way; or to think about the legislation in one way; in order to misdirect the public from seeing all of the bad stuff happening which is actually going to happen in a different direction. It’s a way for the government to create a narrative in a way which directs people away from the ugly truth of what’s actually going to take place. The Bill, called “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act”, could also be aptly named the “Stripping All of Your Rights so We Can Dig Out Minerals and Build Stuff Really Really Quickly Act“.

If passed, the new law would allow the Ontario government to disregard any provincial laws currently in place (such as provincial environment, labour or insurance act rules) in order to get the project done as quickly as possible, without any red tape. The bill cuts all of the checks and balances in place to protect the public and to protect the environment. It’s being sold to the public as a way to kick start the economy over the threat of Donald Trump and tariffs being imposed by the United States on Canada and Ontario.

It might sound like a good idea, until you pause and think about the ramifications of the proposed bill to plow through all other bills.

For starters, the bill seems completely undemocratic, and borderline totalitarian. The piece of legislation allows the government to do whatever it wants; ignoring legislation what has existed for many years. The rules and laws won’t apply to them once this piece of legislation has passed, and is used. Even if it’s challenged in the Courts as a violation of a Charter Right, the government can enact the Notwithstanding Clause in order to get their way. The Ford Government has used the Notwithstanding Clause before; meaning that they won’t be afraid to use it again. It gives the government total and complete control. That’s what happens when a majority government has been elected. It’s their “mandate“. But, if this piece of legislation were put to a vote, I doubt that the majority on Ontarians would stand behind the idea of giving such power to the government.

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Published on: March 24, 2025

Lights, Camera, Action: Pictures & Video in Personal Injury Cases

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Every school has an Audio Visual Guy (The AV Guy). This was the person responsible for setting up the televisions, videos, slides, speakers, and other sort of audio/visual presentations in schools.

The AV Guy had a tiny office with no windows and poor ventilation. The AV office was once a broom closet, but was converted to accommodate the AV Guy with a small dated desk so that the AV Guy could sit in peace with all of the school’s AV supplies while simultaneously eating his lunch in privacy. The AV Guy’s office would be stacked to the wall with TVs, VCRs, speakers, mics, computers, receivers, and lots and lots of wires and cables! Oh those wires and cables. Some neatly folded. Others a tangled mess, hanging off walls, or anything else standing vertically. There were enough unkept wires and cables to cause a kid get tangled, and slip and fall. Perhaps the hazards of the AV office is why I became a personal injury lawyer, but that’s a another story.

In any event, have you given much thought as to why school’s have dedicated AV Guys? When you look at the position critically, they are not educators, nor are they custodians of the school. So why are education resources spent on AV personnel?

It’s because AV Guys are very important to schools and to educating students.

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Published on: July 19, 2024

When there are no consequences for negligence or carelessness

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

I’ve been watching a lot of youth soccer games of late. My son plays a lot of soccer.

Given my son’s young age, more experienced referees are not assigned to officiate his games. His referees tend to be young and inexperienced. They are looking at making a few extra bucks while contributing to a game they really enjoy.

The problem is, that the games tend to get out of hand because the young, inexperienced referees lack the experience, poise and confidence to control the game.

The game got so bad last week a parent from the opposing team walked onto the pitch during a water break to have a conversation with the referee. While I was not privy to their conversation, I imagine that they weren’t discussing the weather or making dinner plans.

In this week’s game, two players got shoved/punched in the face without repercussion to the offending player.

In a previous game, the teams were playing by different sports entirely. One team was playing beautiful futbol, while the other team was playing barbaric football.

When a player breaks the rules of the game, the referee is there to enforce those rules. Much like a police officer enforcing the rules of the road. A referee can penalize a player by calling a foul, or handing out a yellow card, or even a red card. A police officer can do the exact same by having a stern talk with a motorist who crosses the line, or even handing out a ticket or charging them with an offence.

When bad things happen without repercussion, they will not only continue to happen, but those actions will get worse and hurt people.

Nobody wants to see anyone hurt or injured in a youth soccer game. We all want the kids to have fun, and to develop. But on the path to fun and development in a competitive setting, there needs to be proper enforcement of the rules. There cannot be no consequences for negligence or intentional acts causing harm. Otherwise, people get hurt and may take things into their own hands which further escalates matters. Which got me to thinking about personal injury law.

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Published on: May 24, 2024

How a criminal investigation will impact a personal injury case in Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Sometimes personal injury cases are investigated by the police.

Sometimes, criminal, or quasi criminal charges will be laid on the Defendant (the at fault party).

What does this mean for your personal injury case, and how will your personal injury case be impacted by these charges and the ensuing police investigation?

Good questions!

This edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog will attempt to answer those questions, and more!

Criminal and quasi criminal charges happen in all types of personal injury cases.

In drunk driving cases, people are charged with the criminal offense of impaired driving.

In distracted driving cases, or for other driving offenses, people are charged under the Highway Traffic Act.

In sexual assault cases, the offending party can be charged under the Criminal Code as well.

When charges are laid, it triggers a police investigation, regardless of the severity of those charges.

The police have strong investigatory powers in order to complete their investigation into the incident. They can issue search warrants to search property. They can seize all sorts of records (medical, cell phone, business etc.). They can summons witnesses, who tend to cooperate more with police than they would with a personal injury lawyer for a civil case. They can call people in to the police station to give a statement, or take a statement (recorded or videotaped) from the parties in order to get a better idea of what took place.

The goal of the police in their investigation is to get down to the truth of what happened. The evidence which the police gather will assist the Court in determining whether or not the accused is guilty, or not guilty. If there isn’t enough evidence there to support the charges, or there isn’t a likely prospect of conviction, the charges will be dropped (in theory).

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Published on: May 9, 2024

Lawsuits & Litigation as Seen on TV vs. The Real Thing

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Law shows on television make the litigation process look so easy! Why can’t my personal injury case work like that?

There’s generally a formula for legal dramas on television. That formula has worked for a very long time for shows like Law and Order.

Within the first 5-7 minutes (or earlier) there is a crime or some sort of problem which requires police intervention. The next 8-15 minutes, that crime is investigated by the police at the scene of the crime and research is done at the police station. Witnesses are interviewed, different characters are introduced. The viewers are led to believe one thing, when the show takes a sharp turn and points the litigation finger at a party you least expected to have a motive to commit the crime. The police catch the “bad guy“, and the show comes to a satisfying close. All of this is accomplished in the matter of a short half hour show, less time allotted for commercials (so even less content is required for the producers of the show).

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Published on: January 25, 2024

What happens when my personal injury case settles?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Lots of clients want to know about what the last steps are in a personal injury case when the parties reach an agreement. What happens upon settlement? Does the money magically appear in my bank account? When will I receive my settlement funds? Are the settlement funds taxable? Do I have to go to Court to close my file? Is there any other work required of me for my case once the case has settled?

These are all great questions.

With this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, we hope to answer those “late in the case” questions, and more.

Let’s pretend for a moment that after many years of hard fought litigation; and after many arguments between the lawyers on both sides that everyone seems to agree on a deal in order to get the case settled.

The agreement takes place outside of Court, perhaps moments before trial, or perhaps at mediation or in an exchange of emails between the parties.

What will then take place is an exchange of documents between the lawyers which provide clear terms with respect to the terms of the settlement.

Those documents can take form in something called “Minutes of Settlement“. Or, they can take place through a simple letter or email detailing what has been agreed upon. The purpose of this is to confirm the terms of the deal, so that there are no misunderstandings between the parties.

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Published on: January 18, 2024

The sweet spot for settlement in a personal injury case (Toronto Raptors Edition)

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Yesterday, the Toronto Raptors traded 2x All NBA, 2 x NBA All-Star, 1 x NBA Champion Pascal Siakam to the Pacers for 3 first round draft picks and some players who act as salary filler. Two of the 1st round picks will be late in the first round of the 2024 draft. The 2024 draft is widely viewed a poor draft compared to other years. The third pick will be the Pacer’s 1st round pick in 2026. And, barring injury or a dramatic setback, that pick will be a late round pick as well given that the Pacers are projected to do well.

The haul back for the Raptors is largely underwhelming for a player as talented, dedicated and as accomplished as Pascal Siakam. He is a huge success story for the Toronto Raptor’s scouting and development team. For many Raptor fans, this trade feels like getting 50 cents on a very shinny dollar. There is no way that then Toronto Raptors would attract such a talent still in his prime through free agency. The notion that we are trading him away for little is hard to digest.

But why would the Raptors consider trading away such a talent in the first place?

Good question.

Pascal’s contract with the Raptors is set to expire at the end of this season. The Raptors have tried to extend the contract, without success. Pascal is seeking a “max contract“, and the Raptors are not prepared to pay him those max dollars. So, instead of letting Pascal’s contract expire and receive nothing in exchange, they are trading him away. It’s better than letting him walk away for nothing.

Many NBA teams were not prepared to offer full value for Pascal given that he was under an expiring contract. There was no guarantee that he would re-sign with his new team. The market dictated that they would not pay full price for an expiring asset. This is completely fair, and smart.

But, there had to be a better way. There had to be a way such that the Raptors could get full value for their asset in trading Pascal Siakam. There must have been a sweet spot to pull the trigger on the deal such that the Raptors secured the best possible return for one of the franchise’s best players.

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Published on: November 14, 2023

Adverse Cost Insurance for Personal Injury Cases in Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Over the past decade, personal injury lawyers have seen an explosion of a new insurance product offered to their law firms and to their personal injury clients. It’s called Adverse Cost Insurance or After-The Event Insurance.

How does it work and what does it do?

Adverse Cost Insurance or After-The Event Insurance serves to protect a Plaintiff from an adverse cost award following an unsuccessful trial. At trial, if a party loses, the Judge will generally order that the losing party pay the winning party’s legal fees. Those legal fees, especially after a trial can be very high. This insurance product is there to cover all, or part, of those legal fees which the losing party is ordered to pay by the Judge.

What are the benefits to this insurance?

In theory, the insurance will pay for part, or all of the legal costs if you’re unable to do so on your own.

Let’s imagine a scenario whereby a Plaintiff in a car accident case loses his/her case. After the lengthy trial, the Judge dismisses the Plaintiff’s case, and orders that the Plaintiff pay the Defendant’s legal costs in the amount of $500,000. This is entirely possible. In fact, it recently happened in the case of Belton v. Spencer. In that case, Belton sued Spencer for damages as against Spencer as a result of an accident that he sustained while walking Spencer’s horse .

Following a trial lasting over eight weeks, Belton’s action was dismissed as against Spencer. The Judge ordered that the Plaintiff Belton to pay $350,000 in legal fees plus HST, and $74,472.52 in disbursements, for a total of $469,972.52 to the Defendant Spencer. Ouch!

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