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Being a Plaintiff who is not familiar with the civil justice system is very frustrating.

For starters, you’ve needed to retain a lawyer and sue in Court to get the results you need. Because you’ve commenced a legal action, then we can presume that you’ve exhausted every other recourse and Court is your last option. It would have been far easier and less expensive to keep the lawyers out of your dispute and work things out between the parties. The nice thing about working things out without lawyers and without the Court is that you get to control the process and you don’t have to jump through the hoops which the Court sets down. These hoops can an tricky for lawyers and for self represented litigants alike. All of these points are blown out the door if you can’t find a lawyer to take on your case. In that situation, you’re on your own; left alone to navigate the legal system on your own. The great abyss lies ahead. You can expect countless hours in your local library in the future, along with many sleepless nights.

One of the most frustrating things for the clients at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers is coming to the realization that the legal process isn’t anywhere near as fast as we see on TV.

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A few recent headlines caught my attention over the past 48 hours:

From Toronto/the GTA:

There were 350 Car Accidents in the past 24 hours in the Toronto area due to snowy and slippery conditions. OPP responded to 350 car accidents in the GTA due to slippery weather conditions in the past 24 hours.

From Kitchener/Waterloo:

Police to respond to fewer collisions. Under a new partnership with Accident Support Services Ltd., police will decide if they will attend collisions depending on the severity of the crash, injuries, and whether the collision is suspicious. 

What does this mean? It means that right now, there are a lot of accidents happening on roads across Ontario on account of winter weather and slippery conditions.

It also means that police will respond to fewer of those car accidents regardless of the conditions. Police can arbitrarily tell callers that if there doesn’t appear to be any injuries, and/or if the collision does not appear to be severe, that they won’t attend on the scene to investigate. This has significant consequences for a personal injury case. Here’s why.

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For the 1% of personal injury cases which go to trial, the majority of those cases are tried by a Judge with a Jury.

Insurance companies automatically file Jury Notices to accompany their Statements of Defence because they know that jurors don’t like sitting through long personal injury cases. A disengaged and disgruntled juror will be less likely to side with the Plaintiff. A Judge sitting alone is trained, well versed and PAID to listen carefully to the facts. Jurors are not trained, not well versed and certainly not well paid to sit around for weeks listening to evidence. In some cases, the cost of parking, snacks and meals will outweigh the cost of the Juror’s daily stipend. Compounding the anger of a juror is the fact that many of them are employed and have to miss time from work without getting paid themselves to engage in jury duty. Nobody wins.

Jurors want to sit in on “cool trials“. What’s a “cool trial“. Think of a high profile murder case. That would be “cool” to sit in on. Or how about a violent assault, drug trafficking charge, or something involving organized crime? Anything out of a TV or movie plot would satisfy a juror’s appetite. Unfortunately, chronic pain, fibromyalgia and long term disability disputes don’t make very interesting screen plays.

Plaintiff personal injury lawyers know this. Plaintiffs themselves often do not. It’s hard for a Plaintiff to put him or herself in the position of a Judge or Jury hearing their own case. In the Plaintiff’s own mind: What else could be more important or more interesting than sitting through a 2-4 week trial to hear all about my injuries, disability and how the insurance company screwed me?

What really goes on in a juror’s mind is “who cares about this person; and; get me outta here so I can go back to my normal daily routine.” Continue reading →

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Part of Brian Goldfinger’s focus in 2019 for his law firm, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers will be helping to educate consumers on Long Term Disability claims and getting the benefits you deserve.

It all starts with knowing your rights and knowing how your policy of insurance works.

Lots of employees know they have benefits. Detailing what those benefits are is the next step. Understanding whether or not you have private long term disability coverage, and if so, how that coverage works is best when putting your mind to long term disability claims in Ontario.

Recently, Brian Goldfinger did an interview for Advocate Daily entitled “Consumers’ Guide to Long Term Disability Insurance“. You can find the article here.

This is the first in a multi part series which Brian Goldfinger is doing with Advocate Daily to raise awareness as it relates to Long Term Disability cases in Ontario. What Brian Goldfinger has found is that many employees/consumers don’t even know that they may have access to long term disability benefits, let alone how those benefits are activated and acquired.

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Brian Goldfinger knows that picking a good personal injury lawyer isn’t easy. There are certainly a lot of options out there. How do you know who to trust? How will you know which personal injury lawyer will be right for your specific case. Does the personal injury lawyer have the requisite skill, understanding, empathy, experience and legal savvy to maximize your compensation and optimize your result?

For most people, picking a personal injury lawyer is the first time seeking out a lawyer for a litigation matter. Many people have retained lawyers for non contentious issues requiring a lawyer. These examples include common solicitor issues like buying/selling or leasing a property; drafting articles of incorporation, drafting a will,  or dealing with estate issues.

Other common areas of law where people need to, or have retained a lawyer including family law cases (divorce), or criminal matters.

It’s not everyday where people need to retain a personal injury lawyer to commence civil litigation. This is why finding the right lawyer for you can seem like a difficult process.

With this instalment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post, Brian Goldfinger will share his thoughts on what you should look for when retaining a personal injury lawyer.

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It’s the holiday season! Brian Goldfinger and everyone here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers wishes you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and safe holiday and new year.

Today (December 18, 2018) new penalties for impaired driving were introduced. The penalties are stiff, and have significant implication in both criminal and personal injury cases. With today’s installment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog; Brian Goldfinger will explain what the penalties and what the changes are to the law. These changes have an impact on everyone (motorists, pedestrians and cyclists) across Ontario; so take note.

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Many people ask Brian Goldfinger what it takes to build a successful personal injury case. Is it having the best personal injury lawyer? (not that any personal injury lawyer can ever say that s/he is the best because that’s against the law). Is it having the best client? Is it having the best back end data retrieval software? Is it having the best rehab team working on your case? Is it having the best looking business cards to intimidate the insurance company into submission? Is it having the best doctors treat you? Is it having your personal injury lawyer commission the best medico-legal reports from the best experts?

The truth is that building the best personal injury case is much like building the best home. There is no such thing as the best home. There are great, well built homes. But everyone’s opinion of what the best home is; is entirely subjective. The best home is the place which you lay your head to rest and call home. Some homes are fancier than others. Some homes can do with more. But we all get by with what  we’ve got and we make the most of our situation.

A successful personal injury case is much like a well built home. A well built home requires a lot of advance planning, practical and sometimes unique design, quality materials, experienced and skilled labour.

A personal injury case requires a lot of advance planning, practical and sometimes unique design for the case; quality materials in the form of records/reports, along with experienced and skilled lawyers to optimize a superior result on behalf of the client.

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In a perfect world, the Courtroom presents a level playing field. There are rules which are meant to be followed. There is a neutral unbiased judge who acts as trier of fact; decides right from wrong; just from unjust.

When the rules of the Courtroom are tweaked, those tweaks have unintended (or sometimes secretly deeply calculated) consequences.

With this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, I would like to present to the general public what some tweaks in our Courtrooms can do to the Average Joe/Jane at trial.

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Personal injury law should be simple.

Plaintiff sustains an injury in an accident (the damages component).

Defendant’s negligence caused the accident (the liability component)

Plaintiff’s injuries directly caused as a result of the Defendant’s negligence (the causation component).

Any personal injury case without all three of these components will fail. When you put it out in such easy to understand terms, it would seem that personal injury litigation is very straight forward.

But it’s not.

Insurer’s will challenge the Plaintiff’s position every way until Sunday. That’s their job. Insurance companies don’t gratuitously throw money at claims which they don’t believe have merit. And even claims which they believe have merit are viewed through a difference valuation lens than then injured accident victim and his/her personal injury lawyer. Translation: The injured Plaintiff will think that their case is worth a lot. The Defendant insurer will think the opposite. Getting parties to agree to a valuation of damages can be a tricky exercise.

Aside from the normal defense tactics of surveillance (both in person and online), defence medical examination, digging in to one’s pre-accident history and testing their credibility at each step; there are other barriers to a Plaintiff’s recovery which can be even more difficult to overcome than a tactful defence lawyer.

It’s those hidden barriers to recovery which we wish to examine in this week’s edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post.

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The OCF-10 Election Form is important for your car accident case in Ontario. By completing the OCF-10 Election Form, the injured accident victim is telling the insurance company which benefit they are choosing to receive.

Completing the OCF-10 Election Form incorrectly, or late; can hurt a car accident case and prejudice your right to claim and recovery accident benefits which you will need to help make you whole.

Without further a due, here are Goldfinger Injury Lawyers’ Top Tips on completing the OCF-10 Election Form.

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