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In the case of Keam v. Caddey, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered that the insurance company pay to the Plaintiff $40,000 in ADDITION to damages for pain and suffering because the insurance company REFUSED to participate in the mediation process before the case went to trial. The Insurance Act REQUIRES that parties in a car accident case MEDIATE the disputes before it goes to trial. Our legistlature has also called for Mandatory Mediation in certain provincial jursidictions, like Toronto. The Ontario Court of Appeal found that the insurance company’s hard ball tactic of REFUSING to MEDIATE warranted a $40,000 penalty against the insurer.

The Honourable Justice Kathryn Feldman writing for the Ontario Court of Appeal stated “it is this approach that the legislature has disavowed by making mediation mandatory.”

My comments about this decision were quoted in the recent edition of the Law Times Journal. The link to the article is:

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When you think about car insurance, it probably makes you gag or fall asleep Seriously! Who wants to hear about things like deductibles, benefits, premiums or the Insurance Act. It’s all a bore.

Our government has made Ontario’s Car Insurance so dense, so thick, and so complicated that changes to the Insurance Act aren’t even made within the Insurance Act anymore. Instead, they’re made into separate “Schedules” which are completely different Acts in and of themselves Genious!

These “Schedules” are called the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule or SABS for short. There are SABS for accidents on or after January 1, 1994. There are separate SABS for accidents on or after November 1996. There are separate SABS for accidents on or after December 2002. There are separate SABS for accidents on or after September 2010. Get the picture? Now who on earth has the time or the patience to go over this, know where to find the updated SABS or even understands what the SABS are trying to talk about. I can tell you this. They aren’t in plain to understand English that’s for sure. Try taking them to your local MPP and ask for their help in interpreting them. They’ll be as dumbfounded as you. But it’s the MPPs and our government who are the architects of the SABS…go figure…

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Car Accident Injury more than meets the eye.Ontario has a very complicated accident benefits system for car accidents. Car accident lawyers have to keep up with the changes in the laws, which occur regularly.

If you or a loved one has been hurt or injured in a car accident, you are allowed to claim accident benefits. For some, the most important group of accident benefits are those relating to income, caregiver and non-earner benefits. All of these benefits represent money which is potentially available to you in the event that you are not able to lead a normal life as a result of your car accident.

The thing that insurance companies DO NOT tell you, is that you have the right to chose which benefits you would like. This is called an “election”, and there is a special form that you must complete in order to elect one of these three benefits. If you DO NOT elect one of these three benefits, then the insurance company will pick a benefit for you; and it will likely be a benefit which is advantageous for them, and not for you.

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One of the most important things for an accident victim to understand when pursuing their personal injury case is how the laws of damages apply to their individual case. The laws of damages are very important, because at the end of the day, how damages work has a direct impact on how much compensation an accident victim will receive at the conclusion of their personal injury case.

One of the examples that we use to illustrate the importance of how the laws of damages impact personal injury cases, is providing the example of what if Superman were involved in a car accident?

One nice summer day Superman is crossing the street as a pedestrian on his way to the local library. Suddenly and without warning, a drunk truck driver runs a red light and crashes directly into Superman; while Superman is crossing on a green light in between a cross walk. The accident is clearly not Superman’s fault.

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Bicycles and motorcycles aren’t equipped with the same safety features as the other motor vehicles which they share the roads with. There aren’t any airbags, re-inforced steel doors or side curtain absorption cushioning on any motorcycles or bicycles on the roads. Bikes and motorcycles have to share the roads with much larger, heavier and stronger vehicles. Dedicated bike lanes are few and far in between in our cities. Bikes and motorcycles are an afterthought on our roadways. But when a motorcycle or bicycle is involved in a car accident; it’s often front page news because the injuries are so severe and can often be life threatening.

A helmet may protect your head, but it may not be enough to save you from serious injury in a bike or motor cycle accident. Brain injury, loss of limb, spinal injury, skin grafting and broken bones are common place in bike and motorcycle accidents.

Given the severity of the damages in these sort of accidents, why would you even risk not contacting a personal injury lawyer right away? A personal injury lawyer will ensure that your rights are protected and help you get the medical and financial support in your time of need.

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Many people who have been hurt or injured in an accident ask me why they should contact a lawyer. What will a lawyer do for me that I cannot do for myself?

The answer is simple. A personal injury lawyer will protect your rights to ensure that your claim is protected and to ensure that you are not taken advantage of by the insurance company opposite your claim.

For many, a traumatic accident such as a high speed car accident or bicycle accident represents the first time that they’ve experienced dealing with a serious personal injury claim. As a first time accident victim, you will not have any idea where to start.

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Evidence in personal injury cases includes but is not limited to hospital records, ambulance reports, witness statements, police records, photographs of the accident scene, photographs of injuries, medical reports, employer’s records, tax returns, OHIP summaries, bank statements and the list goes on.

The problems is that evidence can disappear making an accident victim’s case that much more difficult to prove and that much more difficult to quantify. Take the slip and fall case on an icey patch of pavement. If photographs are not taken of the accident scene immediately, it will be nearly impossible to fully appreciate how the accident happened and who is at fault. We can certainly make educated guesses, but knowing with certainty how large the patch of ice was, where it was, and how slippery it was will be very difficult to re-create completely. What about the lay witness who saw the person slip and fall on the ice. If your lawyer does not get their contact information immediately and conduct an interview, it’s possible that witness may not be reachable in the future because of an address change, they may have forgotten what happened, or they may simply no longer want to co-operate. What about the injuries to an accident victim? Blood, breaks and bruises heal. If your lawyer does not have photographs of what those injuries are, it will be very difficult for the insurer, judge or jury to fully appreciate the extent of the damages to the accident victim.

Pictures, whether they are of an accident scene or of injuries are powerful evidentiary tools used by all Plaintiff lawyers to help their clients prove their cases. The more pictures which a Plaintiff lawyer has to prove their case, the better. But if accident victims wait too long to contact their lawyer to build their case; evidence gets lost, damaged and photos may be impossible to attain; thereby hurting the accident victim’s case.

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Car insurance is meant to compensate and protect drivers from any loss or damage arising in the use or operation of a motor vehicle. Typically, if you are an at fault driver in an accident, your car insurance will pick up the bill for the damage which ensued. Driving without insurance or driving an uninsured car is against the law. You will likely be fined for doing this.

But what happens in cases where two cars are involved in an accident and neither car or operators have car insurance? What happens to pedestrians who don’t have a car and don’t have insurance that are hit by cars without insurance? What happens to bicycle riders without car insurance who are struck by cars without car insurance? How do these accident victims get compensation for their injuries if there is no source of insurance to claim from?

The government of Ontario has set aside a fund of money to compensate accident victims without car insurance, who are struck by cars without car insurance. It’s called the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund( http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/insurance/auto/mvacf/). It is meant to be a fund of last resort for accident victims who have been victimized by drivers operating their cars without insurance. The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund will compensate accident victims up to $200,000 in tort damages which include pain and suffering. They will also step in as a fund of last resort to pay accident benefits in the event there is no other source of insurance to claim such benefits.

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Social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace have become increasingly popular over the years. People use these website to post information about themselves, post photos, even videos. These websites are intended to be a fun way to network and interact with others.

Accident victims who start legal actions often make claims that their lives have changed since their accident. People complain of constant pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety and being unable to enjoy their activities or their lives like they did before their accident.

Traditionally, insurance companies have requested mountains of documents and medical records to substantiate and confirm the accuracy of an accident victim’s personal injury claim. Insurance companies are now starting to look to less traditional avenues to get all the dirt they can on an accident victim’s claim.

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