Frequently Asked Questions
Dealing with a lawyer
I don’t
have any money to pay a lawyer. Can you still help me?
Yes. Our practice is
restricted to acting for people who are sick or hurt, usually
against insurance companies, directly or indirectly. Most of our
clients have been out of work for some time and do not have the
money to pay a lawyer up front.
We will agree to represent
you without asking for payment at the outset of the case once
we determine that there is a reasonable likelihood that we will
be able to obtain benefits or compensation for you. We will take
our fee and be reimbursed for disbursements when the case resolves.
Our fee can be based on the time spent and other factors, or it
can be based on a percentage of the amount recovered. We will
discuss the options with you when we meet and make sure you understand
what you will be expected to pay. Either way, if we think we may
be able to help, we will provide a no-cost, no-obligation initial
consultation.
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The insurance
adjuster told me that I don’t need a lawyer. Is that true?
You probably need a
lawyer for your personal injury claim as much as you need a doctor
if you break your leg.
The laws governing personal
injury and insurance claims in Ontario have become increasingly
complex over the past fifteen years. The insurance adjuster you
will be dealing with will usually have had some specialized training
before being hired by the insurance company, and works in the
system full-time. She or he has a huge advantage over the average
member of the public, who may (if lucky) have never been involved
with the legal system or the process of making a claim before.
The insurance adjuster would probably be very pleased if you do
not have a lawyer to protect your rights and interests and to
advance your claim.
Having an experienced
lawyer on your side evens the playing field. In all but the simplest
of cases, you should at least consult with a lawyer. If we think
you can handle your case without us, we’ll tell you that.
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How long will
it take to resolve my case?
The amount of time it
takes to resolve a case, either through settlement or trial, depends
upon a number of factors.
One important factor
is your health. It takes time for the human body to have a reasonable
opportunity to heal. Until you have either healed or reached your
maximum medical recovery, it is very difficult to properly assess
a case. Resolving your case before this time may leave you undercompensated.
Another factor is medical
delay. Invariably, we need medical records and reports to support
your claim. If your treating specialist, for example, has a six-month
waiting list, and it takes three months for her or him to prepare
a report after your appointment, nine months will go by while
we wait for the medical evidence we need.
Court delay can also
slow the resolution of a case. Court administrators in Ontario
have worked hard to reduce the time it takes to get a case to
trial and have instituted various processes designed to facilitate
settlement along the way. Nonetheless, court backlogs can mean
that cases (especially ones where the trial is expected to be
long) may not be heard for several years after your lawyer puts
the case on the trial list.
Generally speaking,
we don’t get paid until your case resolves. For that reason,
we have every interest in moving your case forward as quickly
as possible. On average, in our experience, cases resolve anywhere
from one to three years after we are first retained.
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I have a lawyer.
She never returns my calls and I want to switch. Can I do that?
You are entitled to
choose the lawyer who represents you. To succeed, the lawyer-client
relationship must be based on mutual trust and respect. Different
lawyers have different styles and techniques, and you should find
someone with whom you are comfortable, and who is comfortable
with you.
If your lawyer isn’t
returning your calls within a reasonable amount of time, you are
entitled to ask, in writing, for a meeting to discuss your concerns.
It may be that your lawyer is ill or tied up at trial. (Trials
for lawyers are like surgery for doctors: they demand the lawyer’s
complete attention. If it were your case being tried, you would
probably expect your lawyer’s complete attention!) Try to
resolve your concerns during the meeting. The problem may be unrealistic
expectations on your part, or poor communication on your lawyer’s
part. Your lawyer may be working hard on your case, but you may
not know it.
If you cannot arrange
a meeting, or if the meeting does not satisfy your concerns, obtain
a second opinion from an experienced lawyer. If you decide to
change lawyers, you will need to sign an authorization to allow
your new lawyer to obtain your former lawyer’s file, and
you may need to pay your former lawyer’s fees and disbursements
for work performed up to that time.
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The
discharge planner at the hospital is encouraging me to hire another
lawyer. What should I do?
The decision as to which lawyer you hire is yours and yours alone.
Your decision should be based on your level of trust and confidence
in the lawyer's ability to effectively represent your interests
and provide good service to you throughout lawyer-client relationship
– not just at the beginning.
No
doctor, discharge planner, social worker, or other person in a
position of trust should pressure or coerce you to hire the lawyer
they recommend. If they do make a recommendation, here are
some questions you may wish to ask:
Why
are you recommending this lawyer?
Are
you being paid any money, have you received, or will you receive
any gifts (for example, hockey tickets) from the lawyer, in
exchange for making this or other referrals? If so, how
much?
Have
you recommended this lawyer before? What sort of specific
feedback have you received from other patients?
Does the lawyer conduct surveys of clients after the case has
concluded so as to measure the level of client satisfaction?
If not, how does the lawyer (and how do you) know that clients
have been pleased with the service provided?
Does the lawyer return phone calls, e-mails, and letters from
clients within 24 hours?
Does the lawyer require money up front?
Will I actually deal with the lawyer you are recommending, or
will I be handed off to a junior lawyer?
Because
of the potential for abuse, one major trauma hospital in Toronto
now prohibits its employees from referring patients to lawyers.
If your hospital worker has given you a lawyer's name, you should
report the incident to hospital management.
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Long-Term Disability Claims
I have been
off work for several months. The insurance company that insures
me through my work just denied my claim for long-term disability
benefits. What should I do?
First, don’t
give up. Insurance companies often deny initial claims, hoping
that you will become discouraged and will walk away. If you can’t
work, talk to a lawyer. Sometimes, the solution can be as simple
as making sure that the proper forms have been filed, or that
your doctors have prepared all the necessary forms or reports
in a clear manner. In other cases, you may need a lawyer to sue
the insurance company before you get the benefits to which you
are entitled. Remember that insurance benefits are not charity.
You paid for them. If you are disabled from work, for whatever
reason, you should get the benefits you paid for.
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My wife is
physically okay, but she is depressed. Some days, she can’t
get herself out of bed. She is sad and can’t concentrate.
She hasn’t been fired but I am afraid she will be if she
misses any more time from work. She has a group disability plan.
Can she claim disability benefits even though she wasn’t
physically injured?
Generally speaking,
yes. Group long-term disability policies are not standard, so
to understand what illnesses are covered or excluded, you need
to read the policy (or, if you cannot obtain the policy, the policy
booklet provided by her employer will give you a place to start).
Claims based on mental
illness – especially mood disorders like depression and
bi-polar disorder – are increasingly common. Because the
existence of these illnesses cannot be readily proven through
objective tests, insurance companies often treat claims based
on illnesses like depression with a great deal of skepticism.
However, that does not mean that such claims cannot succeed. Talk
to a lawyer who has experience in the successful prosecution of
this type of claim sooner rather than later.
For more information
about Long Term Disability claims, click
here.
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Motor Vehicle Collisions
The car that
hit me was uninsured. Am I out of luck?
No. If you were insured
under your own Ontario automobile insurance policy, you can claim
against your own insurance company, which will “stand in
the shoes” of the uninsured vehicle. If you had no auto
insurance, you still have recourse against the Motor Vehicle Accident
Claims Fund, which is administered by the Government of Ontario.
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I was hit by
a hit-and-run driver who was never identified. Am I out of luck?
No. Again, as in the
case of a collision involving an uninsured vehicle, you can claim
compensation through your own insurance company (if you were insured)
or through the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund (if you were
not).
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Why does your
office refer to car accidents as collisions?
The word “accident”
implies that what happened was random and unavoidable –
an act of God – rather than the predictable result of certain
behaviour. In fact, almost all motor vehicle “accidents”
are highly preventable, the result of driving while impaired (by
drugs, alcohol, or fatigue); being distracted behind the wheel;
speeding; or other common causes. At our office, we use the acronym
“POP” to describe motor vehicle collisions: they are
Predictable, Obvious, and Preventable.
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