Slip and Fall

Published on: November 26, 2024

Bad Weather and Personal Injury Cases Go Hand In Hand

It’s snow tire time. We’ve had some pretty mild weather thus far in Ontario, but it’s getting to be that time of year. Don’t believe me?

Today the Weather Network announced that Ontario would get hit with its first blast of winter. They are predicting up to 60cm of snow in some regions on account of lake effect snow. They are warning drivers this will be the first hit of winter, with some hazardous winter driving conditions.

A few things to note:

The people/networks which predict the weather are often wrong. These are only weather predictions so they aren’t going to be correct 100% of the time. Catchy headlines are used to engage readers (pay per click). Reporting on the weather that everything is fine and there is nothing to worry about won’t engage as many eyeballs. But predicting doom and gloom entices more people to click and read. So take these predictions with a grain of salt.
Having said that about false weather predictions; we’re certainly due for a meaningful snowfall in Ontario. We are in the last week of November, and we haven’t really felt, or seen the winter. That means it wouldn’t surprise me if we got hit with a winter storm of some proportion. How big, or small that storm will be is anyone’s guess.
The first snowfall of the winter makes for erratic driving! It seems that people forget how to drive when it snows, or they’ve never driven in snowy conditions before. Both statements can be true. Not everyone on our roads knows what it’s like to drive, or how to drive, when it snows. Snow, sleet, slush and ice create unique driving conditions which are only seen in winter weather countries like Canada.
We also see the procrastination of putting on snow tires having an effect. Many people don’t think of putting on snow tires until it’s snowed a few times and their vehicles are sliding around the roads like sleds. They know that they have snow tires, and that they need them; but they wait until it’s too late to get them installed. That’s quite common. It’s recommended that snow tires be changed over when temperatures consistently fall below 7 degrees; even if it isn’t snowing. Snow tires are formulated to grip better when it’s cold. With global warming, this date is going to be more erratic, and get pushed back later and later.
On that note, here is a free marketing opportunity for any tire brand (Michelin, Cooper, Bridgestone etc.) or the tire industry. National Snow Tire Changeover Day. This idea would be good to heightening awareness about snow tires, and giving people a reminder to get them installed. It may also increase sales of snow tires. The companies can also provide incentives to purchasing and installing tires on National Snow Tire Changeover Day. The problem you might encounter is that the day might change depending on the weather. Hot temperatures would delay it, while fast cold snaps might move it forward. The National Date might also vary depending on where you live. You would have different temperatures and climates depending on the province (or area within a province) where you live. In any event, I’m sure that the marketing executives at the tire companies can figure things out. That’s why they’re paid the big bucks.

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Published on: February 22, 2024

More Defendants: More Problems in a Personal Injury Case

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Personal injury cases are never as simple as they might appear to be.

The case of an apparently simple slip and fall, just isn’t so simple.

On the surface, the case is very easy to summarize. A person is walking on a private walkway. The walkway was not properly maintained for the winter. The person slips, falls, and breaks their ankle. Ouch!

On the surface, the Plaintiff would sue the private property owner. That makes total sense. The dynamic of the litigation would be a single Plaintiff against a single insurer acting on behalf of the private property owner.

But that’s not what actually happens.

The private property owner is not a single entity. The property is owned by three different corporate entities (that’s three different defendants). All of these Defendants may have different insurers for the loss, or they may have the same insurer under one policy. Your personal injury lawyer can find this out once the litigation proceeds.

The property owners inform your personal injury lawyer that there was a property management company. That’s an additional Defendant to add to the mix, with a different insurer altogether.

Now that the property management company is added, they inform you that there was a winter maintenance contract in place. That’s a 5th Defendant to the mix.

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Published on: January 12, 2024

SLIP AND FALL SEASON IS UPON US!

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

It has been snowy.

It has been slushy.

It has been drizzly.

It has been icy.

It has been icky.

It has been yucky.

It has been dreary.

It has been mucky.

How else would you describe slip and fall season? Few people in Ontario describe the weather in January as hot, humid and hazy, with blue skies and plenty of sunshine. It’s quite the opposite. The days are short. It seems like we haven’t seen the sun shine in weeks. It’s cold, damp, slippery, and dark.

Around this time of year, our law firm sees an uptick in slip and fall, and trip and fall cases. That’s not to say that slip and fall cases don’t happen year round. It’s just to say that in the winter months we see a spike in these sort of cases. Justifiably so. There’s no ice and better visibility in the spring and summer months. Ontario in the winter is full of icy, slush and snow related hazards.

In this instalment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, we would like to examine the critical importance which liability plays for a slip and fall, or a trip and fall case.

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Published on: August 1, 2023

10 Day Notice Periods for Slip and Fall Cases on Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Personal injury law is rather strange.

In all cases, the Plaintiff has been hurt or injured. Aside from being hurt or injured, the majority of Plaintiff share another thing in common.

The overwhelming majority of Plaintiffs have never been involved in a civil lawsuit before! That means that they have very limited knowledge about the Court system and how it works. They aren’t familiar with lawyers and legalese. They aren’t familiar with the law and how it works. But most importantly, it’s a message that these Plaintiffs aren’t litigious people. That means that they either don’t know how to sue, don’t want to sue, or want to stay as far away from the Courts as possible. Because let’s face it, the Courthouse is not a pleasant place to be. At the end of the day, the vast majority of Plaintiffs are legally unsophisticated accident victims who were in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Yet, the Courts treat Plaintiffs who have never sued, never retained a lawyer, or stepped foot inside of a Courtroom like they should know all of the ins and outs of the law. And if they don’t know the ins and outs of the laws, large, highly sophisticated litigants such as insurers get to reap those benefits.

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Published on: February 1, 2023

Slip and Fall Cases in Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

It’s rather chilly in Ontario, with temperatures getting around the negative double digits.

When it gets this cold, ice forms and hardens significantly, making for difficult walking conditions on both public sidewalks, and private driveways and walkways.

Despite the poor walking conditions, there are still some daredevils out there who defy the cold temperatures and dare to wear sandals, flip flops, crocs or other footwear not associated with winter conditions.

So, what happens after a slip and fall case in Ontario? How are these cases started and built up by personal injury lawyers in order to get their clients the compensation which they deserve.

Cases are built upon facts and evidence.

This of these as the primary ingredients to a successful lawsuit. Without evidence, the case is going nowhere fast. You personal injury lawyer cannot simply conjure up evidence out of nowhere. And neither can you. Evidence in favour of your case either exists, or it does not. Some evidence is easy to gather. Other forms of evidence are not, and may need some form of higher power (like a Judge’s Order) to compel production.

Here’s an example of evidence which is easy for your personal injury lawyer to gather and to produce. Things like:

Clinical Notes and Records from the Hospital you attended after your slip and fall accident
Clinical Notes and Records from your Family Doctor or Nurse Practitioner, or the Walk In Clinic you attended after your slip and fall accident
Clinical Notes and Records from your Physiotherapist, Massage Therapist, Chiropractor or Occupational Therapist who you saw after your slip and fall accident
Pre-Accident and Post Accident tax returns which establish your base line pre-accident income, to show that you sustained a loss of income as a result of your slip and fall accident
Your Pre-Accident and Post Accident decoded OHIP Summary showing the doctor(s) you saw; and the frequency you saw those doctors before your slip and fall accident vs. the doctor(s) you saw, and the frequency you saw those doctors post slip and fall accident
Your employment file
Your ODSP File
Your CPP File
Your short term and/or long term disability benefits file
Your collateral benefits file
Your LHIN file
Photographs of your injuries, along with the ice patch which caused your fall (if you took any such photos and preserved them)
The ambulance call report, or the records from the police or fire department if they came to the scene of the accident to assist
Weather records for the days prior to your fall, the date of loss, and the days post slip and fall accident

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Published on: January 5, 2023

Brian Goldfinger’s Top 5 list of where slip and fall accidents happen

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

My law firm Goldfinger Injury Lawyers has successfully handled countless slip and fall cases. We have recovered our clients millions of dollars getting them the compensation which they deserve after they’ve been seriously injured as a result of a slip and fall caused by the negligence of a property owner. Please note that past results are not indicative of future results.

People are curious as to where these slip and fall case take place. I’m sure we’ve all seen someone wipe out or fall to the ground. But does this mean that the person will have a successful case? Does this mean that someone will reach out to a personal injury lawyer in order to claim compensation for their injuries, damages, or losses?

This is Brian Goldfinger’s comprehensive list of the top 5 most common places our lawyers see slip and fall cases take place. We are releasing our top 5 list now in the winter time, because this is the time of year where we see the most slip and fall cases happen.

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Published on: November 30, 2022

Behind the Scenes of a Winter Slip and Fall Case

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Winter time means slip and fall accidents on account of snow, ice, sleet a slush.

These slip and fall cases can cause serious injuries to innocent visitors to public (or private) spaces.

Think of a parking lot at a school, university, grocery store, or a shopping mall that isn’t properly plowed, sanded or salted. Or perhaps a local gas station that hasn’t been maintained after some serious winter weather.

After a Plaintiff slips, falls, get hurt; begins the rehab process; what happens next? What happens behind the scenes of such a case.

With years of dedicated assistance to serving innocent accident victims across Ontario, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers has seen countless of these cases. While no two cases are exactly alike; they do share a lot of commonalities. Each case is determined on its own set of facts. Many cases can be similar, but NOT the same.

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Published on: November 22, 2022

Winter Means that it’s Slip and Fall Season: Be Careful

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Cold weather!

Snow!

Ice!

Yikes!

Winter means that you are either really excited because you happen to be a winter sports enthusiast (most people who love the winter also ski, snowshoe, play hockey and can’t get enough of the cold weather) or you are dreading what’s yet to come.

Whether or not you like, or dislike the winter weather doesn’t matter. But what does matter is that you stay safe for when the sidewalks, walk ways, stairs and entrances get wet, slushy, icy and slippery.

Around this time of year, our lawyers see an increase in client calls relating to slip and fall cases dealing with icy or slippery surfaces.

There is a very good reason for this aside from the obvious that it’s cold, snowy and can be icy outside. The reality is that the first winter storm or frost can catch us off guard. We aren’t quite ready for it. All of our “snow stuff“, such as winter boots, winter coats, hats and gloves were all packed away at the end of last winter, and have yet to be unpacked for the upcoming cold weather season.

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Published on: September 14, 2022

Brian Goldfinger and the Case of the Bad Slip and Fall Accident

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

It doesn’t matter the season, the weather, the time of day, or the conditions. Slip and falls happen. Sometimes there are no injuries. Sometimes there can be very serious, even catastrophic injuries. When a bad slip and fall does happen, people often seek out the services of a personal injury lawyer to get them the compensation which they deserve to restore some form of dignity to their lives. The compensation recovered by your personal injury lawyer cannot only help make ends meet for the present, but can also provide a degree of future care support moving forward.

Today’s edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog will focus on “Brian Goldfinger and the case of the Bad Slip and Fall”.

Once upon a time, there was a nice elderly man. Let’s call him “Fred“. Fred lived a semi-retired life in a rural property just outside of Peterborough, ON. Fred is a fictional character.

One day, Fred headed in to town to do some grocery shopping and some banking. It was a normal fall day in September. The weather was cool, and the skies were sunny.

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Published on: November 25, 2021

Winter Time Slip and Falls in Ontario

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Winter is coming?

Winter is here?

Winter never left?

Either way you cut it; it’s getting cold outside. And with colder weather comes snow and ice. Snow and ice mean dangerous driving conditions along with slip and fall walking hazards.

The focus of this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog will be on winter time slip and falls in Ontario.

What’s changed for slip and fall cases in Ontario?

In December 2020, without any consultation, the Ontario Provincial Government introduced the Occupiers’ Liability Amendment Act

The Occupiers’ Liability Amendment Act provides for a new 60 day notice period for slip and fall cases involving snow and ice:

Notice period — injury from snow, ice

6.1 (1) No action shall be brought for the recovery of damages for personal injury caused by snow or ice against a person or persons listed in subsection (2) unless, within 60 days after the occurrence of the injury, written notice of the claim, including the date, time and location of the occurrence, has been personally served on or sent by registered mail to at least one person listed in subsection (2).

Not only does a Plaintiff have to give notice of his/her claim within 60 days; but the notice must either be served personally or sent by registered mail to:

1. The occupier of the premises and;

2. The independent contractor(s) employed by the occupier to remove snow or ice on the premises during the relevant period in which the injury occurred.

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