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It seems as if every criminal lawyer across the City of Toronto has been interviewed about the murder trial of Michael Rafferty. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, Michael Rafferty was recently found guilty of 1st degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on Victoria Stafford of Woodstock Ontario.

So, what does this Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer have to say about this criminal trial? First: thank goodness it’s over. I can’t fathom what the Stafford Family has been going through over the past 3 years. Imagine the pain, anxiety, hate, rage, suffering, and sadness the Stafford family has endured over this period of time. You can’t put it into words.

Secondly: the law really needs to change on the status of warrants in the country. Why you ask?
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The snow has melted. The sun is out. The weather is heating up. People sick and tired of bad winter weather want to get outside and be active. And they do. And one of the big changes we see in commuting patterns is that in the warmer weather, more and more people bike to work. It’s only logical that an increase in the number of cyclists on the road creates an increased number for the potential for bike accidents.

What I’ve noticed in Toronto, is that more politicians at City Hall encourage Torontonians to bike. Bike to work. Bike to pick up groceries. Bike for pleasure. Bike to the doctor’s office. Biking is sexy. It’s cool. It’s good for you. It’s hip. Wherever you go, Toronto’s politicians want you to bike. Unfortunately, the infrastructure does not exist in Toronto, or many other Ontario Cities (London, Peterborough, Hamilton, Oshawa) to ensure that your bike ride is a safe one. Unless you stay on your driveway with training wheels and a helmet on, you can’t assure this Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer that some motorist in their car won’t share the roadway with you and won’t “nudge” you off the street.
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Brain Injury Claims are the most serious type of personal injury claim. Brain Injury can render a car accident victim with impaired memory, concentration, ability to process information, dizziness, fatigue, speech impairments, blurred vision, depression, ringing in the ears, moodiness, sleep problems, taste problems, anxiety and other cognitive injuries which only the accident victim himself can truly understand and appreciate.

Brain injured accident victims may ot have the same clear tell tale signs of injury symptoms which people who have broken bones in accidents might have. Case in point. If you’ve broken your femur bone (leg) in a car accident, you will be placed in a cast. One you’re in a cast, it will send a clear signal to the rest of the world that you’ve been injured (perhaps in a car accident, boating accident, or slip and fall accident). But there is no such thing for a cast or crutch for a brain injured accident victim. Some brain injured accident victims are physically unimpaired, but mentally, they’re catastrophically injured.
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The hottest insurance product on the market over the past 5 years has been critical illness insurance or “CI”. What is critical illness insurance? Basically, it’s a policy of insurance which gives you a lump sum payment in the event you sustain a critical illness such as a heart attack, stroke, cancer, blindness, HIV/AIDS, or other critical illness as defined by your policy.

By taking out a policy of critical illness insurance, you’re betting against your own health. You’re saying: “I know I’m going to get really sick, a heart attack, or a bad disease and I want to be compensated for it“. Many see this as a smart bet given the increased reports of heart attack, cancer and other disease.

But what might seem like a simple concept; I get really sick so I get paid a lump sum from the insurance company; isn’t so simple. These critical illness insurance policies contain tens of dozens of exceptions which make it very difficult to make a successful claim.
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99% of personal injury cases in Toronto settle outside of the Courtroom. That means that of all of the personal injury actions started in Toronto, only 1% of them ever go to trial.

So, how do the other 99% of personal injury cases in Toronto get resolved? Some settle at the insurance adjuster level. Others settle between the plaintiff personal injury lawyer in Toronto and the lawyer for the insurance company. This can be done by way of without prejudice settlement proposal or by way of a simple phone call. Other cases might settle with the assistance of a Judge at a Pre-Trial. A Pre-Trial is a without prejudice settlement conference before a Judge, often in chambers so NOT in Courtroom. The Judge will attempt to narrow the issues before the trial, might try to resolve the case, and if the Judge is unable to do so, that Judge may provide his/her opinion about the personal injury case.

In Toronto, mediations are mandatory for all personal injury cases. That means that all car accident cases, slip and fall cases, long term disability cases, https://www.personalinjurylawyertoronto.com/lawyer-attorney-1852946.html, chronic pain cases, spinal cord injury cases, and any other personal injury action started in Toronto will have to be mediated before it can go to trial.
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I’m constantly asked time and time again when the best time is to sue in their personal injury, car accident or brain injury case. The only right answer to any of these questions is to sue in your case before your limitation period expires. That’s legal advice you can bet your house on.

Limitation periods in personal injury cases vary. It doesn’t matter the location of the accident. The laws for limitation periods in injury case are not all the same.
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An article recently caught my eye in the Globe and Mail. It told the story of an Ottawa Pee Wee AA hockey team.

8 of the 17 players on the hockey team were forced to miss games on account of concussion. That sounds bad; doesn’t it? That sounds completely insane! What parent would sign up their kid for a game only to get concussed! How physical are these Pee Wee hockey games anyway?

What sounds even worse is saying that 8 of the 17 players on the Ottawa Pee Wee AA hockey team missed games on account of brain injury.

Make no mistake, a concussion is a brain injury.
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Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan and Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty have released the Ontario provincial budget. Ever read a provincial budget? Well, here’s the Ontario 2012 version in all its glory. Long read. Hard to understand. Hard to find what it is you want. LIkely all on purpose so the common person wouldn’t bother going through the thousands and thousands of pages, tables, graphs, pie charts etc.

The budget is full of cuts, proposals to increase revenue, austerity measures, economic forecasts etc. The budget impacts a wide variety of sectors from education, to health, to transportation. Even gambling and liquor sales are covered in the budget.

You might be asking why a Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer is focusing so much on the Ontario provincial budget.
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The amount of money at stake in catastrophic accident benefit claims can be very significant. Millions of dollars can be required for future attendant care benefits, future medical/rehabilitative benefits or otherwise.

An insurance company is under no obligation to lump out your accident benefit claim. If you die in 5 years, then why should an insurer be on the hook for payment of your future benefits today, when you’re not around to use them?

On the other hand, a closed file is a good file for an insurance company. Sometimes, it pays for them to simply pay off a significant portion of the claim to make you go away so they can close their file.

Because there are contingencies for millions of dollars in benefits flowing from the insurance company to the accident victim, the insurance company may insist in putting that money into what’s called a structured settlement.
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Examination for discovery can make or break an accident victim’s case, so this article is an important read if you have an upcoming examination for discovery in a personal injury case.

What is an examination for discovery? In the United States, they’re referred to as “depositions“. Here they’re referred to as “discoveries”.

Basically, you and your lawyer are asked questions from the opposing lawyer. The questioning takes place at a Court Reporter’s offices, which is essentially a board room. The Court Reporter records everything that’s said during the discovery and makes a record of it. Everything that’s said during the discovery, while on the record, is on the record and will be used against you at trial. If your testimony at trial doesn’t jive with your testimony at trial, the opposing lawyer will try to paint you out to the Court as an unreliable source of information whose testimony cannot be relied upon. What you say at discovery will be held against you. Your words matter, so be mindful of what you say.
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