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Ontario’s Court of Appeal released a landmark car accident decision yesterday in the case of Pastore v. Aviva.

The decision deals with the definition of “catastrophic” under Ontario’s Insurance Act.

60 year old Toronto resident Anna Pastore was attending a wedding when she was hit by a car back in 2002.(Editorial Note: this is a 2002 accident which is only getting resolved yesterday 2012!!!! Is that nuts or is it just me. Talk about delay in our Courts, but that’s no secret to anyone.)

At the time of the car accident she was the primary caregiver for her husband who was very sick. As a result of the accident, she broke her ankle and later required knee replacement surgery. Her personal injury lawyer applied to Aviva for catastrophic benefits under the insurance Act.
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Fibromyalgia doesn’t exist! It’s a figment of your imagination! Get over it! Get outta bed and get a job! Excercise. Deal with your so called “pain“. Stop being depressed! Stop being sad right now! Be happy and pain free immediately you faker!

This is what insurance companies would love to tell all claimants who have used Fibromyalgia as the primary reason for their inability to return to work, or pursue any form of gainful employment.

Some doctors, particularly those old school doctors would tend to agree.

Other doctors, and this Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer would adamantly disagree. Fibromyalgia is real. Fibromyalgia is debilitating. Fibromyalgia is not a figment of your imagination. Our personal injury law firm has helped countless Fibromyalgia sufferers with their denied short and long term disability claims.
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A traumatic Toronto Car Accident not only has a profound impact on the injured party. It also has a big impact on the family of the injured party and their loved ones. I’ve seen this time and time again as a personal injury lawyer.

The way that car accident law works in Toronto, and for the rest of Ontario, is that family members can be compensated in relation to the accident. But, this compensation does not cover pain and suffering, trauma or mental distress. The law for family members is rather limited. It only covers damages for loss of guidance, care and companionship. Again, don’t confuse this with pain and suffering or emotional distress. This is a common mistake made by accident victims and their family members. I wholeheartedly agree that family members should be compensated for the significant changes which follow after a catastrophic motor vehicle accident.
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Let me set the record straight. I’m no conspiracy theorist. But some things make me wonder. The recent release of the confidential Hillsborough Disaster papers is one of those things that makes me mad, and re-inforces my passion as a personal injury lawyer.

Let me give you some background.

In the 60’s hippies and protesters used to have a slogan “Don’t trust anyone over 30“. The slogan highlighted the generational gap, and the ideological differences between parents, grandparents and their children. For me, this sort of slogan drove home the point not top trust our leaders, or those who control the reigns of power. At that time, the younger hippies and protesters weren’t in any sort of positon of power or great wealth. Rather, they felt that their elders (those over 30) held those positons of power, authority and wealth. They felt the socio-political system in which they were operating was tilted to serve the interests of the older generation and not the new generation. This reached its climax with the Vietnam War.
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I’m sad to report that Goldfinger Injury Lawyers has a file cabinet full of drunk driver cases. That means that despite all of the public service announcements, press releases, and sad stories you see on the 6 o’clock news, people still aren’t getting the message. Drinking and driving kills. Drunk driving accidents have resulted in some of the most serious and catastrophic accidents our law firm has seen. The stories of the accident victims and their families from these car accidents is horrific, and something nobody should have to live through or experience.

One of the most horrific drunk driving accidents Toronto has even seen took place this past month.
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One of Goldfinger Injury Lawyers’s clients was recently profiled in the Peterborough News x3 for a bar assault claim. You can read all about our client’s story in the Peterborough Examiner’s article; the Peterborough This Week’s article; you can watch the footage on CHEX-TV in Peterborough below:

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVTMgTsAOU
 
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Former Attorney General Michael Bryant is back in the news with the release of his new book 28 Seconds, A True Story of Addiction, Injustice and Tragedy. Notice how the “Tragedy” part in the title is last? The “tragedy” part should be first, because for those of you who have been following this story, it’s a tragedy for all those involved.

For those of who who haven’t been following, Michael Bryant’s story has fascinated those in the legal community; particularly the criminal bar and personal injury lawyers. His case is arguably the highest profile bike accident case in Toronto’s history. Never heard about it? Well, here it is in a nutshell.
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One of my first high profile personal injury cases was a dog bite case. A Toronto woman, walking her American Eskimo therapy dog was attacked by three off leash pit bulls in the park of an apartment complex. The American Eskimo named Simba was bitten relentlessly by its attackers and then torn to pieces. Its pure white as snow coat was stained red in its own blood. The owner of the dog witnessed the three pitbulls tearing her poor Simba to pieces. She tried to stop the attack and shelter Simba from the two attacking dogs. Smelling blood, the pitbulls continued their attack on the woman, tearing into her arms, legs, back, neck and abdomen. Simba died and the owner was injured both mentally and physically.

The case garnered media attention in the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail. Here’s a link to the excerpt from the Globe and Mail article.
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On August 6, 2012, Toronto cyclist Joseph Mavecs was riding his bike on St. Clair Avenue near Wychwood. He was riding without a bike helmet. He had a bag of groceries on the handle bars. As he was trying to make a left hand turn from St. Clair onto Wychwood, his bike tires became lodged in the exposed streetcar tracks on the roadway. Mr. Mavecs then flew off his bike, and hit his head on the pavement. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

If you’ve ever rode a bike, or driven a car on Toronto’s streets south of Bloor, you’ll quickly notice a few things. Firstly, the streets are congested with cars, bikes, pedestrians, parked deliverly trucks, construction closures, road maintenance, poodles etc. You name it; Toronto has it. Secondly, you”ll notice that there are a variety of exposed street car tracks. These tracks are used by the TTC. Some lines have been out of service for a long long time.
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People always ask me: Brian; I’ve been hurt in a car accident and now I can’t work. How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to get by?

Great questions. Completely legitimate concerns. We here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers recognize that if you’re name isn’t Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan (net worth 15 billion and the world’s wealthiest Sheikh), chances are that money is a big concern following a devastating car accident. HH-SHEIKH-KHALIFA-BIN-ZAYED-AL-NAHYAN.jpg

But first, I’d like to take a moment to recognize all the great emails I’ve been getting from my blog followers. My cousin Natalie formerly of Toronto, now of Florence by way of Los Angeles writes:
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