Toronto Personal Injury Law Blog

Sometimes you simply have to sue your own family members.

It doesn’t get easier, but after 18 years of dealing with families that have their lives turned upside down because of a car accident, I have learned to explain more poignantly why, in some circumstances, the hurt family members “must” sue the driver of their car – very often the Dad or Mom of the family – even though the car accident was ‘not their fault’.

If you’re a car passenger, you almost always sue every single possible source – ie the driver and owner of every car involved in the accident – because it you don’t, problems might arise.… Continue Reading

An interesting Judgment in Blake v. Dominion of Canada General Insurance Co., 2013 ONSC 6069 (CanLII),  written by a Judge in an Ontario personal injury case.  This is not a frequent occurence, since most personal injury cases proceed in Ontario by jury and the review of evidence by a Judge tends to be on motions brought by defendants on the pain and suffering (non-pecuniary damages) “threshold” as defined in the Insurance Act.

This is a good read for personal injury litigators, given the review of the medical evidence. … Continue Reading

In a big win for insurers and a big loss for people involved in Ontario car accidents, the FSCO decision of Scarlett and Belair, FSCO A12-001079 (Arbitrator Wilson), has been overturned and a new hearing is to be held into the applicability of the MIG to an insured who developed psychological, chronic pain and TMJ (temporomandicular joint) issues some time after her MVA (and whether the insurer has an ongoing duty to re-assess the insured as to the MIG’s applicability) Belair and Scarlett, FSCO Appeal Order P13-00014 (Director Evans).… Continue Reading

The Issue: does agreeing to a Trial prevent the defendant from seeking motion relief for further defence medicals or other issues?

The Problem: To keep files moving forward, it is not uncommon for the plaintiff solicitor to pass the Trial Record immediately after Discoveries are completed. The trial certification form is then made available by the Registry a few months later, which is completed by both parties and filed with the Court.

Given the lengthy wait times for Trial dates, it is not uncommon in Toronto for counsel to set the matter down for relatively straightforward matters and to estimate how many experts each side will call at Trial – even if all those experts have not yet been retained.… Continue Reading

Can you receive less at Trial simply because you settled your Accident Benefits (“AB”) claim prior to your tort trial?

The Issue: often the AB file is ready to settle prior to the completion of the tort file. This is tempting for the injured claimant, because it can give the claimant a lump sum of money to pay for expenses while they wait for their tort claim to resolve

The Problem: what if you go to Trial and get less than expected?… Continue Reading

In my 18 years as a litigator, I have been asked countless times about the Fault Determination Rules.  It’s almost always the same question: “My insurer assessed me as being (partially or fully) responsible for a minor car accident, using this thing called the Fault Determination Rules. What can I do?”

My answer is usually that you can fight the determination yourself, because it’s much too expensive to hire a lawyer to fight on your behalf.

For example, let’s say that you are in a minor bump with $1000 in vehicle damage and your insurer says you are 50% responsible for the accident. … Continue Reading