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The wheels of justice turn slowly. Why is that?

Do you have all day to listen to the rantings of a personal injury lawyer?

Likely not.

The reality is that some of the delay can be blamed on the inherent nature of modern day personal injury litigation. It’s complex. It’s combative. It’s document heavy; and getting documents produced from the police, hospitals, treatment facilities or a doctor is not the most expeditious process. There are also significant privacy concerns as well which take time to deal with.

Other times you can blame the Courts. Most urban ones are slow without adequate resources to meet demand. Don’t believe Brian Goldfinger? Have you visited your local Courthouse lately?

Some times there simply aren’t enough Judges to hear cases. It’s true and it happens more that you would expect.

The focus of this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post will be tactical delays by insurance lawyers to slow down the progression of a car accident case in Ontario.

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If you read the last instalment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, you would have read all about the confusing world of Long Term Disability policies, how they work; how they don’t work; and how ordinary people find them confusing. If you didn’t catch the last instalment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog; don’t fret! You can read up on it here. Brian Goldfinger thinks that you will find it interesting and informative.

What makes our long term disability lawyers mad or frustrated, is when we see what appear to be otherwise meritorious cases, fail on account of a technicality not caught by the innocent disability claimant who doesn’t know any better.Goldfinger-logo-icon-300x300

Enter the recent decision out of Kitchener of Wiles v. Sun Life Assurance Company; released February 15, 2018 by the Honourable Justice G. E. Taylor.

In this case, the Plaintiff commenced an action against Sun Life Insurance for Long Term Disability Benefits. Prior to her disability, she worked at a company called Spaenaur.

The plaintiff states that she became fully disabled as of October 15, 2015, she continued to work full time and perform her employment duties until the date of termination of her employment at the beginning of November 2015. Prior to the termination of her employment, the plaintiff did not request of anyone at Spaenaur to be placed on disability.

In the Attending Physician’s Statement Salary Continuance Services, the plaintiff’s primary diagnosis was stated as “major anxiety disorder”. In the Attending Physician’s Statement Claim for Long-Term Disability benefits, the plaintiff’s symptoms were described as severe anxiety and depression which first appeared on November 3, 2015. The form also described the plaintiff’s symptoms as the result of being dismissed from her employment.

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Long Term Disability cases are complicated. Most people don’t even know what a Long Term Disability Claim even is. To take it one step further, some people who have Long Term Disability coverage don’t even know that they have it, or which insurance company it’s with, how much coverage they have, or the duration of their coverage.

To be fair, the monthly long term disability amount is normally not a fixed amount, rather it’s a fixed percentage based on your annual salary or income. This fixed percentage/amount is subject to a variety of set offs such as CPP Disability benefits, WSIB Benefits, other collateral income benefits etc. The Long Term Disability Benefit can also be subject to a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) which would increase the monthly LTD benefit based on a fixed inflation calculation.

In any event, calculating the LTD benefit can be tricky, and can be a mathematical challenge for even the finest actuary.

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Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day! Mental illness is a leading cause of disability in Canada.

For every text, mobile and long distance call, tweet using #BellLetsTalk, Bell Let’s Talk Day video view on social media, use of the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat filter, Bell will donate 5¢ to Canadian mental health initiatives.

This is a super fantastic initiative which has helped to raise $86,504,429.05 since September 2010 towards mental health.

But, sometimes it’s not all about the Benjamins. Sometimes, it’s about raising awareness, ending negative stigma, and helping people feel more comfortable in their own skin. Perhaps greater than the money, is the very fact that people are more comfortable joining the conversation and talking about mental illness.

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A costs endorsement in the case of Persampieri v. Hobbs was just released by the Honourable Justice Sanderson after a three week jury trial of a car accident case.

This costs endorsement reflects everything that’s wrong with car accident law in Ontario.

You should know that in jury trials, jury decisions are not reported. Only the Judge’s endorsements/rulings from in-trial motions or costs decisions are reported. It’s through those endorsements/decisions which lawyers and insurers alike can pick up on what happened at trial (unless they are in the Court room to observe the trial as it takes place).

This case encapsulates EVERYTHING that’s wrong with the current state of tort claims for car accidents in Ontario. The system is simply grotesque, and tilted so far towards insurers it acts as a deterrent for innocent accident victims to seek the compensation which they deserve.

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This is Part 1, of our 2 part series on getting to know your Rehab Team following a serious accident in Ontario. We have to do this feature in two parts on account of its length and we didn’t want to miss anybody. The second part will be released next week.

After a serious accident (car or otherwise), you will be exposed to a variety of medical and rehabilitation professionals. Some you will see in hospital or rehab facility. Some you will see at home. Others you will see at their office.

Either way, understand who these medical professionals are, and what their role is will help you better understand the rehabilitation process.

This installment of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog will introduce you to your rehabilitation team following a serious accident (catastrophic accident, brain injury, orthopaedic injury etc.).

The reality is that money is often the main driver of most anything in our society. These doctors and rehab professionals do not work for free. Some are paid through the OHIP system. Some are paid by a private health insurer. Some are paid directly by car insurers. Some get funded through crowd sourcing! Some will defer payment and get paid upon settlement. Understanding how these doctors and rehab professionals are financed will help innocent accident victims better understand some of the finer financial aspects of their case. Continue reading →

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Since the Christmas Holiday, our law firm has received dozens of phone calls from prospective clients with respect to their slip or trip and fall cases. The way these accidents occurred all vary. We see a number of snow, ice, slush or general slippery conditions caused by damp condition claims. We also see a variety of pot hole or crack claims. We also see uneven surface or poorly maintained stair claims.

The mechanism of the falls vary, as to the injuries sustained. From ankle fractures, femur fractures, broken arms, broken wrists, separated shoulders, shattered elbows, even broken noses. Ouch!

The reality is that this is now slip and fall season and we handle a lot of these cases around this time of year.

As discussed in a previous Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog post, there are many pit falls for slip and fall cases. The most important which we tried to address was the issue of liability. This is concept of proving negligence (or wrong doing) agains the party you are seeking to sue (normally the property owner, or the company responsible for the maintenance/care of that property).

The thing our lawyers try to hammer home is just because a slip or trip and fall happened, and injuries were sustained, doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be a winning personal injury case there. The Plaintiff needs to establish that the Defendant was negligent (or at fault, or responsible) for said slip and fall accident.

Without establishing liability, there is no case to be had; regardless of how significant the injuries may be.

This is why sometimes in slip and fall cases, the injuries are almost secondary to how the actual slip and fall took place. In certain instances, the parties will AGREE on damages at trial, and argue only on liability.  This is exactly what happened in a case which went all the way to the Ontario Court of Appeal in Kamin v. Kawartha Dairy Ltd. 2006 CanLII 3259 (ON CA).

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Everyone here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers hopes that you had a safe holiday season, along with a Happy New Year. We also hope you’re doing your best to keep warm, as most parts of Ontario have experienced a deep winter freeze over the past month or so.

We kick off the first post of 2018 in the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog with an examination of medical marijuana for your personal injury or long term disability case.

We here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers are going out on a limb and declaring 2018 the year of pot/marijuana. As we get closer to July 1, 2018, we will hear more and more about the legalization of recreational marijuana. It may, or may not be legalized by that time. Justin Trudeau has given mixed signals on when recreational marijuana will be legalized; and the provinces are still working out how it will be dispensed. Ontario is leaning towards an LCBO style model. What model will work best has yet to be seen.

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It’s Winter.

For personal injury lawyers like Brian Goldfinger, that means it’s slip and fall season.

In a cold weather climate like Ontario, our personal injury lawyers get calls from a lot of prospective slip and fall clients.

While every case is different, there are certainly common threads in many winter time slip and fall cases which we would like to share with the readership of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog.

Brian Goldfinger and the team at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers will hope this knowledge will better prepare you for handling your slip and fall case, along with the barriers to recovery.

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It’s December 20, 2017. We are in the thick of the Holiday Season. Brian Goldfinger, on behalf of Goldfinger Injury Lawyers PC wants to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Safe Holiday Season.

Brian Goldfinger would be lying if he told you that things slow down at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers PC around this time. That’s not a true statement.

We see a lot of insurers and defence lawyers alike looking to close their files. Our law firm also receives a lot of call and inquires through the holidays from prospective clients regarding serious car accident cases, slip and fall cases, motorcycle accidents and long term disability claims.

Just because the Courts close for a few days for the Holidays doesn’t mean that the world of personal injury law slows down. In fact, lots seems to happen for whatever reason one the Holidays. If Brian Goldfinger could give a good explanation as to why this happens, he would.

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