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Last week the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog was in the midst of providing you with valuable tips to complete the OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits. Now, we’re going to complete this topic on how to properly complete the OCF-1 following a car accident. The fact that it will take 2 (or 3) blog posts to properly complete this topic without rendering you the reader into a coma (likewise to yours truly the writer), should be an indication to you how technical and tedious these forms are to complete.

For your refernce, the OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits Form can be found on the website of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario here; or at the Goldfinger Injury Lawyers Website in the Accident Benefits section here.
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The most important form to start any personal injury claim following a car accident in Ontario is called the OCF-1 Application for Accident Benefits. This is the starting point for all accident benefit claims. You will not be entitled to income replacement benefits, non-earner benefits, attendant care benefits, housekeeping/homemaintenance benefits, money for massage, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic treatment, psychological counselling or even get money for your prescription medication following a car accident if you don’t complete the OCF-1.

I’m always asked by accident victims what the best way is to complete this important form. Today I will share with you some important details on how to complete the OCF-1 properly to ensure that your accident benefit stands a fighting chance.
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Yes. End of post….

Alright, you want some more legal info. Well here ya go.

Around Halloween, I get the odd call from parents telling me that their children were out trick or treating with them, and got a bit too much sugar in their system; and didn’t look both ways before crossing the street. And Blam. A car accident involving a minor happens. We get a lot of these calls from Toronto, because Toronto’s streets tend to be more congested than other areas of Ontario. But that’s not to say that these sort of pedestrian car accidents don’t happen elsewhere in Ontario (London, Peterborough, Cobourg, Oshawa, Belleville)
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Today I watched a great clip from Howard Elmer, a contributor to my favourite car television show; MOTORING TV. Motoring TV is on TSN and its a great show about cars, and the people who drive them.

In this clip, Elmer describes how the Insurance Industry is trying to again cap your benefits because the cost of insurance in Ontario is simply too high. There’s also talk about insurance fraud. But, based on my experience, the fraud you see if far less than insurers insist exists, and is a GTA phenomenon. If have yet to see any sort of frauds outside the GTA (Toronto, Vaughan, Mississauga, Brampton). I have yet to sniff or even suspect auto insurance fraud akin to what might exist in Toronto. In any event, this is a great video clip. Here’s the link to the clip. I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Well done Howard.
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Want to learn about the importance of completing an OCF-3 Disability Certificate after your Toronto car accident? Read on.

The OCF-3 Disability Certificate is a form created by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. Why they created this, along with other silly forms is still a mystery to me, along with personal injury lawyers across Ontario. It all has to do with Ontario’s complicated no-fault accident benefit regime, but that’s the subject of another post.

In any event, following your car accident, your insurance company will send you a booklet of forms. And when I mean booklet of forms, I really mean it. If you don’t like reading, or you don’t like completing standard forms which require a lawyer to understand, then you’ll certainly have issues with these forms. One of the forms is called the OCF-3 Disability Certificate. This is probably the most important and telling form for you to have completed.
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This month’s November 2012 issue of Toronto LIfe Magazine tried to make the case for making wearing bike helmets the law. The compairison was made that driving your car without a seatbelt is ludicrous and has been made law. Then why not mandate riding your bike while wearing a helmet? Both save lives. Both make complete sense. I couldn’t agree more with Toronto Life. The article isn’t yet available online, but if you pick up the November 2012 edition of Toronto Life, you can read all about it. Pretty interesting article for cyclists and for personal injury lawyers alike.

In case you didn’t know, helmets are NOT mandatory for all cyclists. They’re only mandatory for cyclists who are under the age of 18. So, if you’re older than 18, you get to make your own choice. To wear a bike helmet or to not wear a bike helmet. The choice is yours. But to me, there shouldn’t be a choice whatsoever. Bike helmets should be mandatory and here’s why…
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People always ask me: Brian, when am I gonna see you on the big screen? When are we going to see a Goldfinger Injury Lawyers video? Well fans, the time has come for our law firm’s very first stab at the silver screen. Now, this ain’t no Hollywood production. It wasn’t not filmed at our Toronto office either. It was filmed at our London, ON office on a rainy day. I hope you enjoy! Tech Tip: Scroll onto the screen and click the “Play” button to start.

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It’s astonishing the number of car accident victims in personal injury cases who come to my law firm unprepared for some of the questions I have to ask them. Basic things like:

1. When did your car accident happen?
2. Do you recall the time of day when the car accident took place?
3. Who was in the car with you at the time of the car accident?
4. Do you recall if the police attended at the car accident scene?
5. Do you recall if an ambulance came to the site of the car accident?

For some people, these questions are difficult to answer, if not impossible due to a brain injury, or the catastrophic nature of their injuries. Some people are unable to communicate given their injuries, or have post traumatic amnesia following their car accident. We see it all the time.
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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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