Published on:

By

When a car accident happens, you would like to think that the insurance company insuring the at fault driver will pay out on a meritorious claim.

That makes sense.

But more often that not, insurance companies try to avoid (putting it kindly) their obligation to pay out on such claims. They will leave no stone unturned in an attempt to get out of paying. Smart tactic when it works. But breaches all conventional norms of decency when it fails. But a little egg on the face of an insurer isn’t a new thing.

One of the ways that they can avoid paying out on claims is by attempting to nullify the insurance for the Defendant at fault driver.

They can do so in a number of ways.

One of the ways is to declare that the at fault Defendant driver didn’t have any sort of insurance coverage in the first place.

This happens more often that you would think. During the Pandemic, many Ontario drivers stayed at home on account of COVID and the lockdowns. These motorists had cars, which weren’t being used at all. They were just sitting in the garage, all the while the motorist was paying insurance premiums. Many of these motorists temporarily cancelled their car insurance during the Pandemic to save a few dollars. This makes perfect sense.

But the problem became that many of these drivers who removed coverage, forgot to reactivate their coverage when the world opened up again. The result was that they thought that they were driving around with proper insurance coverage, but in reality; they were not.

In that example, the insurance coverage is well within their rights to deny coverage for a car accident which took place when there was a temporary hold, or removal, of the insurance coverage. You don’t get coverage for free.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

It’s a legal requirement to drive a motor vehicle with car insurance.

Section 2(1) of the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act states:

Compulsory automobile insurance

2 (1) Subject to the regulations, no owner or lessee of a motor vehicle shall,

(a) operate the motor vehicle; or

(b) cause or permit the motor vehicle to be operated,

on a highway unless the motor vehicle is insured under a contract of automobile insurance

In plain language English, this means that if you are driving a motor vehicle without insurance, you are breaking the law.

The consequences for breaching the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act can be significant. It’s not a criminal offense, but the fines and consequences for driving without car insurance can add up quickly.

Section 2(3) of the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act sets out the penalties for driving without insurance. Those penalties are set out below. If you don’t want to read the “leagalese”, I’ll quickly summarize those penalties for you. A Justice of the Peace can fine you (not more than $50,000 after multiple offenses), can take away your driver’s license, can impound your car, and can charge you for the costs of impounding your car.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

They say that a lie has already spread around the world before the truth even has a chance to get up in the morning.

Words cannot ring more true after what we’ve seen circulating in the Middle East over the past 24 hours. Legacy media and many notable politicians have been quick to side with terrorists who celebrate death and teach hate because it makes for a great byline and makes them appear morally superior.

Yet, spreading outright lies is morally wrong. And when those lies entice others to act in violent ways, it gets violent and dangerous.

The right thing to do is make sure you’re getting the story right, before you proclaim what you believe to be the truth from a wide reaching and influential platform. But does anyone care about getting things right anymore?

It’s one thing to spew lies and hate into a vacuum; where those lies and hate are lost forever; never reaching an audience. But, it’s an entirely different thing when social media has afforded everyone with a cell phone a free and unvetted platform to reach the eyes and ears of nearly everyone in the world.

So, why aren’t we more committed to getting the story right?

Why is there a need to jump the gun before we get all of the facts straight?

Is there an award for being first to report on an entirely inaccurate story? I didn’t know that social media had turned into a race to post something; anything; even if it’s not accurate.

Since when did we devolve to this?

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Recently, my family and I took a family vacation to Europe. We visited Paris, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp. We had a blast.

All of these cities are dramatically different than what we see in Ontario cities. As a personal injury lawyer, it got me thinking about those practical and legal differences for what happens when accidents happen in those European cities compared to what happens in Ontario. Here are a few of my observations from our trip.

Each of the four cities which we visited all had dedicated bike lanes, dedicated pedestrian sidewalks, and dedicated roads. Taking things even further, Rotterdam and Amsterdam also had a dedicated tram lane.

Cars, bikes, pedestrians and the tram were NOT expected to share their lane of traffic with each other. They all had their own lanes to operate, in unison. That’s not to say that traffic moved quickly. It was in essence an acknowledgement that having all of these means of transportation share the same roadway is quite difficult. So, instead, the city planners gave everyone their own dedicated lane (with dedicated road signals) to help things move along.

It was quite difficult at times for any one mean of travel (walk, drive, ride a bike or tram) to ride smoothly without getting in the way of another method of travel. Bikes had to look out for cars, pedestrians and the tram and vice versa. There was a lot going on and if you weren’t paying close attention, an accident was inevitable given the volume of different traffic.

The was a strong police presence on the roads of Paris. The officers were either on foot, on horseback, or riding motorcycles. There were certainly some police cars, but far more police were on foot, horseback or on motorcycles. What I found interesting about the police on the motorcycles is that they not only used their police sirens, but they also had whistles in their mouths and would whistle to get someone’s attention rather than put on their sirens. It was an effective technique. The police presence in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp was far less than it was in Paris.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

When you think of a car accident case, the basic premise is that there was an accident; an at fault party; and the at fault party is responsible to pay for the injured party’s damages and losses.

Some cases certainly work that way. But the vast majority of cases do not.

There are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes which non-lawyers rarely see; but which lawyers see all too often.

These moving parts have to deal with insurance coverage. Insurance coverage will result in the defendant’s ability to pay for a Plaintiff’s damages and losses.

You see, it’s not enough for a Defendant to be found responsible for pay for the damages and losses in a personal injury lawsuit.

Just because a Defendant is deemed responsible, does not translate into a Defendant’s ability to pay for those losses. This is a very important distinction.

Take the example of a Defendant who has no assets to his/her name, and who is in tremendous debt. How would that individual Defendant have the ability to pay out of a Judgment awarded against him/her? It wouldn’t be possible unless that Defendant was put on some sort of payment plan which s/he would never be able to fulfill. In Canada, simply because you don’t pay a debt does not mean that you go to jail. Nor does it mean that you have to give up all of your worldly belongings.

And it’s for these very reasons that the topic of insurance coverage is so important in a personal injury case. Coverage will determine whether or not there are real assets there for a Plaintiff to recover upon. It will also determine who is responsible to pay for what. Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Before you get offended, I know that COVID is still around and people are still getting sick. But not quite as sick as they were in 2020/21. We understand a lot more about the virus than we did before,  and we have returned to gathering. Hence the title.

Today, our personal injury law firm settled a car accident case at mediation. It was a global mediation, meaning that both the tort claims (pain and suffering agains the at fault driver) and the accident benefit claims were at issue.

The mediation took place over Zoom. Between the adjusters, mediators and lawyers, there were 9 participants to the mediation.

All of this is not unusual.

Before Zoom, a mediation involving 9 participants would have required 1 main room, along with 2-3 breakout rooms. It would have needed some sort of catered lunch. It would have taken place at a hotel. One party lived in Penetanguishene, another in Grand Bend, another in London and others in the GTA. All of the parties would have needed to travel to a central location for the mediation; and perhaps stay overnight. The travel costs and room booking fees for all of the parties would be high; and would increase in the cost of the mediation and litigation.

Instead, all of the parties were able to do the mediation from the comfort of their own home; or offices. There was no need for anyone to leave early to catch a train home. Sometimes, those “leave early” to catch a train times worked out quite well. It forced the parties to cut to the chase and put out their best numbers earlier on in the process.

When the mediation was over, all of the 9 parties hit the “Leave Meeting” button on their screens and we were all back to where we all started. No travel time incurred or lost. Everyone was able to move on to their next task.

Leaving that mediation, I couldn’t help but think about the ways we conducted mediations before the Pandemic. There are a lot of moving parts for a mediation. Getting 9 people under the same roof in the same City or Town was never easy. Parties were always late for one reason or another. Whether it was traffic, bad weather, train or flight delays, or simply getting lost. That was the norm.

Nowadays, the norm for mediation delays in the Zoom era is poor internet connections which seem easier and much quicker to fix.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

If you have been following the new of late, you may have heard of how the justice system is failing Canadians.

There is a serious shortage of money being allocated to our justice system, which is resulting in excessive delays and cases being thrown out as a cause of delay.

Recently, personal injury lawyer Brian Goldfinger was interviewed by CBC News to speak about the delays which happened to one his his clients. The case is an important one. It’s one of the first cases of sexual assault involving the the Canadian Military to be transferred from military Court to civilian Court. Mr. Goldfinger’s client made the strategic decision to have the case transferred out of military Court into civilian court so that she could get a fair shake at justice. Retired Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour recommended transferring all cases of sexual offences alleged to have been perpetrated by military members — including historical cases — to civilian authorities. It only made sense that Mr. Goldfinger’s client follow the recommendation of a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Being involved in litigation is miserable. It’s true!

Do you think it’s “fun” to be surrounded by lawyers? Is it fun to be compelled to attend at an Examination for Discovery to be grilled by lawyers you’ve never met? Is it “fun” going to Court? Do you consider it a good time having to be examined by a doctor who is hired by an insurance company to defeat your case or to deny your benefits?

Courthouses and court reporters offices are not meant to be “fun”. Litigation is not designed to be “fun” either.

Taking a step back and putting yourself in the shoes of a personal injury client; the litigation process can be quite aggravating and frustrating.

It’s slow.

It’s very time consuming.

It’s expensive.

The laws don’t make sense.

The laws provide more protections to the at fault Defendant than they do to the injured Plaintiff!

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue your case. It means that it’s important for a Plaintiff litigant to have the right mindset as their case goes through litigation. Having the wrong frame of mind will cause undue stress, hardship and anxiety. But all of that can be put at ease if you approach your case with the right frame of mind.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

When someone gets into an accident, we think that the accident victim is automatically entitled to compensation. This seems basic, fair, and like the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, the law is not so simple, nor is it very forgiving.

The law is a donkey. It’s rather stubborn, unyielding, and once you think you have it figured out, it gives you a big kick in the you know what!

Just because you’ve been involved in an accident, even if the accident is NOT your fault; it does not mean that you are entitled to compensation. And even if you are eligible for compensation for your injuries or damages, it does not always mean that you will recover as much as you think you are entitled to.

Insurers and defence lawyers want to know how much money a Plaintiff has received since their accident. Not only that, they want to know how much money a Plaintiff might be eligible to receive even though they have not collected that money.

Continue reading →

Published on:

By

Some fact patterns regarding car accident cases can’t be made up. I suppose that you could try; but the reality of what actually happened often exceeds the bounds of your imagination. They are often unthinkable scenarios fit for a law school exam.

To be eligible for accident benefits in Ontario, an injured accident victim must prove the incident meets the definition of an accident under subsection 3(1) of the the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule. An accident is defined as:

“an incident in which the use or operation of an automobile directly causes an impairment …”

The key words here are “the use or operation of an automobile”. Those words have been defined rather broadly. They are largely fact specific.

If the Plaintiff can establish that the incident arose out of the use or operation of an automobile; then the Plaintiff will be eligible to claim accident benefits. Things like an income replacement benefit; an attendant care benefit; and medical/rehabilitation benefits which are not covered by OHIP. These benefits can really help make ends meet; and can go a long way on the road to recovery following a serious accident. If the accident is deemed as “catastrophic”, these accident benefits will exceed $1,000,000 in value. Being eligible for accident benefits is also important because they will be paid out irrespective of fault. That means where the accident is an “act of G-d”, or some strange fluke; or a single vehicle accident with nobody to sue; then the Plaintiff regardless of fault will be eligible for benefits which is very important.

Continue reading →

OTLA American Association for Justice Lexpert Ranked Lawyer
Contact Information
Toronto Office
167 Sheppard Ave W
Toronto, ON M2N 1M9
Phone: (416) 730-1777 Toll Free: (877) 730-1777 Fax: (416) 730-0955
London Meeting Office
341 Talbot St
London, ON N6A 2R5
Toll Free: (877) 730-1777
Peterborough Meeting Office
420 George St N #313
Peterborough, ON K9H 3R5
Toll Free: (877) 730-1777
Kitchener Meeting Office
290 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2L3
Toll Free: (877) 730-1777
Owen Sound Meeting Office
1051 2nd Ave E
Owen Sound, ON N4K 2H8
Toll Free: (877) 730-1777

Past results are not indicative of future results.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2025, Goldfinger Law
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design