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In a car accident involving pedestrian vs. car; car usually wins. If your name isn’t Superman, then it’s safe to say that the car will knock down and injure the pedestrian time and time again.

The question in pedestrian vs. car accidents isn’t always a question of damages; meaning I got hit by a car now pay me. The question can be hotly contested on the issue liability. That means who’s at fault for the accident. Who is to blame. Is the car driver 100% at fault? Was the pedestrian responsible for the accident, and if so, what percentage of liability ought to rest on his or her shoulders? At law, this apportionment of liability (like dividing up a piece of pie) is also expressed as contributory negligence.

Some of the worst car accident cases which my law firm has ever seen have involved cars hitting pedestrians while they’re trying to cross the road. One of the hardest parts of my job is having to explain the theory of contributory negligence to a client. The more injured the client, the more difficult the explanation becomes (not that every explanation isn’t difficult to begin with).
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You never get a second chance to make a first impression. You parents probably told you this a dozen or so times when you were young. This saying applies as equally to everyday life, as it applies to one’s personal injury case.

Your accident lawyer never gets a second chance to make a first impression on you; the client. It’s in that initial consultation that your lawyer will inform you about your rights, what benefits you may be entitled to; what compensation you may be entitled to; and how your case may progress over time.The lawyer will explain to you how legal fees work, what sort of service you can expect from the law firm, and their action plan for your case. If the lawyer is organized, intelligent, articulate, easy to understand, and likeable, there’s a good chance that s/he will have made a good first impression on the client. The term “likeability” is a term we use a lot at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers on many levels.

The client never gets a second chance to make a first impression on his personal injury lawyer. It’s in that initial consultation the client will inform the lawyer about how the accident happened, the extent of their injuries, the extent of their pain, suffering; and how the accident has changed their lives. Because most qualified, intelligent and empathetic lawyers don’t charge any legal fees until the case settles (which may be years and years down the road), it’s in that initial consultation that the lawyer makes an important business decision whether or not to accept the client’s case. After all, if the client comes off as a liar, a faker, a cheater, a malingerer, or an all around bad person, what reputable lawyer do you think will accept that case and that person as a client. Not many. Again, another reason why first impressions are so important.

But, I will share with you why first impressions are so important in personal injury cases for another BIG reason.
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Note: The opinions expressed in this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog post exclude the Blue Jays, Rock, and Argonauts. It’s mainly limited to the Maple Leafs, TFC and the Raptors.

Ever notice how utterly crappy Toronto pro sports franchises are? When’s the last time Toronto had a major sports title? The Jays won a World Series Championship back in 1993. We hope they’re grab another one very soon with a fresh looking team.

I use words like brain injured; train wreck and car crash (which are synonymous with personal injury law) to describe the professional Toronto sports scene because it’s exactly that.

The Leafs haven’t won a championship since 1967. The year the Leafs last won the Cup, the NHL only had 6 teams!!! That means they had a 1 in 6 chance of winning it from the very beginning. I like those odds. The following season, the NHL expanded to 12 teams, and so began the catastrophic car accident that was, and now is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Brain injury following a car accident is devastating, and the injury remains a mystery for many. But slowly, the best neurologists and neuroscientists from around the world (including right here in Canada, specifically Toronto and London) are unlocking the mystery of the brain. Better treatment options are becoming available every day. I saw an example first hand on TV last week!

Did any of you catch 60 Minutes last week on CBS? If you did, you might have seen a great story by Scott Pelley where researchers for the American Military have tapped in to allowing amputees to use brain waves and brain waves alone to move, control and operate mechanical limbs (arms, hands, legs etc.). The feature was simply AMAZING. Here’s the clip: Continue reading →

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If you hit a moose, a deer, or any other sort of animal and you get injured in the car accident, you can’t sue the animal. You can try. But I have a feeling that the animal doesn’t have car insurance, doesn’t have a bank account, and doesn’t have any sort of income; so your case will be bust.

If, per chance, that animal is owned by a wealthy owner (like Bill Gates or Donald Trump), OR any insured owner by that matter; then there’s a chance we can sue the owner for letting their animal get out of control and causing the car accident. I suppose that fact scenario would work in a situation where you hit a stray horse which happened to wander out of its pen and into the middle of a long country road causing you to hit it. In that scenario, we have to ensure that the home owner’s policy, or commercial general liability policy (CGL) covers them for this sort of loss.

BUT, most of the calls we get at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers involve people hitting a moose, or a deer along a quiet country road. You know those signs you see in remote areas which show a symbol of a deer prancing, which are supposed to be deer crossings; or beware of deer because they exist around these parts and they’re a driving hazard. You know that expression “deer in the headlights“. Welll, for city folk like those residing in the CIty of Toronto, deer hazards are likely very uncommon.
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One of the most important, and most difficult parts of any personal injury case is the Examination for Discovery. In the United States, Examinations for Discovery are called Depositions. The two are basically the same thing.

A Discovery is a chance for the lawyer acting for the insurance company to ask the Plaintiff/Accident Victim all sorts of questions about the car accident, their lives before and after the accident, along with their injuries. All answers are recorded by a court reporter. All answers are given under oath, meaning that you have to swear or affirm your answers to be the truth, the whole truth so help you G-d.

The discovery is likely the first time that the lawyer for the insurance company gets to meet the Plaintiff face to face, and hear them speak candidly about their accident.
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Last year around this time, I gave our Toronto Personal Injury Law Dot Com Blog readers a series of 5 tips for staying safe around the holiday season. That instalment was such a huge success, and got such great feedback, that we’ve decided to hit you again with another series of holiday tips for staying safe around the Holiday Season.

So, without any further adue, here are the Goldfinger Injury Lawyers Top 5 tips for staying safe for the Holiday Season:
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I can’t begin to tell you the number of calls I get from prospective clients telling me how hurt they are as a result of a car accident, slip and fall, or other traumatic accident; only to find out that their accident happened like a DECADE AGO!

I ask them whether or not they started a claim. They tell me no.

I ask them whether or not they had a personal injury lawyer before calling Goldfinger Injury Lawyers. Some tell me that they tried finding a lawyer but nobody would take their case, or that all of the lawyers they spoke to wanted a big upfront monetary retainer. Others tell me that they never thought of looking for a lawyer. When questioned why they didn’t think of finding a lawyer sooner, they tell me that didn’t think that the passage of a long period of time (like over 2 years) was a big deal; and that any lawyer could help them out of this mess.
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Today Ontario’s Court of Appeal released a landmark decision in Hurst v. Aviva. This decision has an impact on ANYBODY who has been hurt or injured in an accident in Ontario. It relates specifically to accident benefit law, which is a complicated, man made set of laws which gets tweaked every year by the provincial government.

This decision confirms that accident victims deserve timely access to justice when they have a dispute with their own auto insurer over statutory accident benefits.

So, what’s this case all about and why’s it so important? Keep reading and I’ll fill you in!
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As a personal injury lawyer, I get calls all the time from people insisting….swearing….preaching….advocating…yelling at me that they have an AMAZING case that’s so clear cut, only a foolish lawyer would turn the case down.

I often get these sort of calls on long term disabilty cases, and critical illness insurance cases. In case you don’t know, long term disability insurance (LTD) and crintical illness insurance (CI) are both products which you can purchase on your own from a broker, or are benefits through your employer which are to protect you in the event you can no longer work at your own occupation; or in the event you’ve sustained a critical illness such as cancer, or a heart attack. In the case of long term disability insurance, you will recieve a monthly premium which can reflect 75% of your net pre-disability earnings (a monthly benefit). In the case of critical illness insurance, you can recieve a lump sum of up to $1,000,000 depending on how your policy is structured. But, let’s continue on with the stories of those phone calls from people swearing to me that their case is a SURE BET.
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