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If you or a family member is the victim of a fall on snow, ice, or slippery winter conditions, the following Toronto Injury Law Blog Post is a “must read“.

If you’re just a legal keener interested in somewhat educational legal read, this Blog Post is “pretty cool”; as the kids would say.

It’s not just little old ladies who slip, fall and hurt themselves during the winter months. It happens to everyone, of all ages, shapes and sizes. Physically fit, or not so trim. It doesn’t matter. Snow and ice doesn’t discriminate.

First thing you should know, and which you or a loved one should do after a winter slip and fall is take a picture of the area where you slipped and fell. Chances are that if you don’t the area will have changed significantly. Guilty property owners are notorious for clearing up patches of ice after the fact.
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Yes. I know. Cute Game of Thrones reference. Which, by the way, season # 4 is scheduled to begin in early 2014 and…spoiler alert…the first episode will feature the death of an important character. Who you ask? You’ll have to wait and see.

In any event, the temperature is dropping across Ontario. I visited the Peterborough Regional Health Sciences Centre earlier this week and it was COLD. I was in Mississauga Friday for a discovery and it was COLD. I was in London this week and it was COLD. A client of mine from the Kitchener-Waterloo area told me that it had snowed 10cm overnight. I’m told that it was snowing in Barrie and in parts of Northern Ontario. Winter’s coming to the Province, if it’s not already here.

So, before the streets and sidewalks get too messy to drive on, here’s a friendly reminder of what you should do in order to be safe this winter on our roads.
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Happy Halloween from Goldfinger Injury Lawyers! Halloween’s a fun Hallmark Holiday which everyone can enjoy. I remember getting really excited to go out trick or treating and returning home with bags full of candy.

But, in my years of work, I’ve seen some nasty accidents which occurred on Halloween night. Trip and falls, pedestrian/car collisions, drunk driving accidents. Where I grew up, there was also a fatality where a driver lost control of his car and collided with a tree. The driver didn’t survive the crash.

Nasty things happen on Halloween night. Don’t believe me? Here’s an interesting assault case and social host liability case based around a young adult party at a parents’ home which got out of hand on Halloween night. The case was tried at the Superior Court in Ontario. The young adult hosts served 56 bottles of beer, 24 bottles of vodka coolers, along with 2 bottles of rum, one bottle of vodka and a bottle of peach schnapps. Guests also brought their own alcohol. An assault ensued at the party, and the young adult host, along with the parents who owned the house got sued by the victim. It’s an interesting read and just goes to show that some crazy stuff happens on Halloween night.
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There is a cost to justice when you pay your lawyer by the hour. And that cost doesn’t come cheap.

Personal Injury Lawyers are the only lawyers I know who routinely and without blinking, take on cases which last years and years on end, without getting paid on an interim basis. We don’t ask for any monetary retainers. Essentially, we take the case for free and then, through skill, wit, hard work, experience and determination; achieve a monetary settlement or secure a judgment for our clients.

I cannot think of any other business or industry which operates on such a model. Want to get your house painted? The painter will likely ask that you pay a deposit, or pay for some materials up front. It’s only after the painter receives that deposit that the painter will begin to work. The painter will then get paid the balance upon completion of the job.

When you visit the dentist, they invoice you or your insurer immediately after treatment. If you’re not happy with the dentist’s work, the invoice still comes. There’s never any real risk that the dentist won’t get paid.
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Cycling is cool. It’s not expensive. It’s fast. It’s healthy. You don’t need a license or insurance to ride. It’s better for the environment. It’s “on trend” in today’s global urban market. And if you’re smart, you can accessorize with a flashy (yet safe) helmet and make all of your peers jealous.

But cycling accidents aren’t cool. They hurt. In an accident involving car vs. bike, it doesn’t take a forensic engineer to understand why the cyclist will usually come out with the most serious injuries. 600lb car vs. 20lb bike? Brain Injury, broken bones, fractured ribs, road rash aren’t uncommon. Some of the most catastrophic accidents we see at our law firm involve cyclists.

Space to operate cars and bikes on urban Canadian streets is coming at a premium. With so many commuters operating in close quarters, accidents are bound to happen.

We’ve seen a new phenomenon of late. The term “dooring” is entering the personal injury lexicon. Never heard of dooring? That’s ok. It’s a relatively new word.

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What’s an Examination for Discovery?

This is an opportunity for the lawyer for the insurance company to ask you all sorts of questions, while under oath, about your accident case.

It’s called an Examination for Discovery because the purpose of the exercise is to “discover” more about you, your injuries, the accident, and your case.

It’s the first, and likely the only time that the lawyer for the insurance company will get to meet with you, face to face, and ask you questions under oath. It’s important to make a good impression at discovery. Why you ask? Well, if you don’t present well, or if you don’t come off as a likeable, credible, or geniune person, then it’s likely the lawyer for the insurance company will report this back to his principals. They will likely devalue your case, or make it a more difficult one to settle.
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Johnny Careless was an interesting fellow. To say that he went against the grain is an under statement. Johnny rode his bike without a helmet. He drove his car without wearing a seat belt. He crossed busy intersections against red lights and don’t walk signals. He texted while driving. He wasn’t one to follow rules. Whether it would be the rules of sport, the public library, or the rules of the road provided under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act. He was, quite simply, a careless individual.

Johnny was going nowhere fast. But all that changed one fine autumn day when Johnny was a passenger in his buddy Ricki Rhodes Chevy Camaro. Ricki was just like Johnny, a careless guy who didn’t much care for rules. Ricki was driving at excessive speeds along Highway 401, West of Mississauga, and lost control of his car causing it to strike head on into the side rail. Johnny didn’t remember what happened. He lost consciousness in the accident. All he remembers is waking up with blood on his face, on a stretcher with flashing ambulance lights glaring at him. Doctors told Johnny that he sustained a traumatic brain injury, along with a fractured ankle and 4 broken ribs. Ouch is right.
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I just wanted to begin this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post by first making quick reference to one of my previous entries. It’s the one dealing with how the OPP’s privacy legislation can impact your case, which was published on July 30, 2013. You can check it out in the Archives of the Blog here.

Our office received 2 OPP Motor Vehicle Accident reports last week; along with the police officer’s notes, driver statements, witness statements etc. from 2 different accidents. We paid around $150 for each set of records. That’s $300 for all you math majors out there.

The purpose really for requesting these records is to find out who’s the bad guy, where they live, their license plate # and other information so that we can track these wrongdoers down, and conduct any criminal or offense investigations in relation to this particular accident, or previous accidents. You also want this information in order to get the address for service of the Statement of Claim. You can’t serve a claim on a person without an address with an Order for the Court for Substituted Service.

What did we get from the OPP?
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Yesterday, there was just a terrible crash between a double decker OC Transpo Bus and a Via Rail Train at Fallowfield Station in Ottawa, ON.

Dozens were injured. 6 were left dead. The majority of the injured were on the bus. But the psychological impact will likely be felt by all, including the friends/family of the injured and deceased, along with the community for years to come. The injured were taken to various hospitals around Ottawa. 10 are reported to have critical injuries.

The names of the 6 deceased have been released. Having the names of those who departed certainly humanizes the story. They are:

  • Connor Boyd, 21
  • Rob More, 35
  • Kyle Nash, 21
  • David Woodard, 45 (the bus driver and a 10 year veteran of OC Transpo)
  • Karen Krzyzewski, 53
  • Michael Bleakney, 57

All of the victims were on the bus. 5 were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
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Full disclosure. I’ve seen first how working long hours can impair your judgment.

Doctors, Residents and Medical Students have ludicrous call demands/schedules at teaching hospitals. You should see them post call! Lawyers, Clerks and Articling Students have ridiculous deadlines to meet and pull all nights all too often. You should see them the morning after the all-niter. Taxi Drivers work LONG shifts day after day (and their job is to drive others). Police officers, paramedics and firemen also have some pretty crazy hours.

But the story about the unpaid intern, Andy Ferguson in Alberta is no joke and speaks to the dangers of working LONG LONG hours then driving home.

First, our thoughts of everyone here at our law office are with Andy Ferguson’s family right now. In case you haven’t heard, Andy was a 22 year old UNPAID intern with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He was completing an internship in order to graduate. He needed to complete a certain amount of hours in order to get his degree. Andy’s internship was at a radio station owned by Astral Media called “The Bear“, a pop rock radio station in Edmonton.

Andy was asked to intern the overnight shift. He didn’t want to. He had just completed 3 previous overnight nights, and was now asked to work a 4th. He was told that if he wanted to complete his practicum, he would just shut and do what he was told.

Andy was NOT happy, as evinced in a text messages to his girlfriend. He wrote to her “F*ck this place“. In a draft email to his professor at the University, which never got sent, he wrote “it would be nice if the people I worked under showed a little more appreciation and respect for myself“.
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