When somebody comes to see me after an insurer has mistreated them, the first question is almost never about the benefits. It is some version of “can anything be done about the way they treated me?” It is a fair question and people deserve a straight answer, so here it is, along with the two…
Beginning on January 1, 2025, Ontario changed its threshold for when to report car accidents to police versus the collision center. The government amended Regulation 596 to the Highway Traffic Act (section 199(1) specifically) to require that accidents with property damage over $5,000 be reported to the police as opposed to the collision center (before…
Dealing with insurance companies after an accident can be overwhelming, especially when you’re recovering from an injury. Personal injury lawyers , like Steven Polak at Law123.ca, handle these communications on your behalf, ensuring that your rights are protected and that you receive the compensation you deserve. Understanding how lawyers interact with insurance companies can help…
Click below to hear a video explainer from a Long Term Disability Denial Lawyer in Whitby. He discusses how Long Term disability claims work with a video explainer of lawsuits, claims, denials by insurance companies like Manulife, Great West Life, Industrial Alliance, The Personal, Desjardins, Sunlife and others. This is relevant to people with long…
Sometimes applications for long term disability benefits are submitted late. In some cases that leads insurance companies to deny benefits applications. However, such a denial should be thoroughly reviewed with a lawyer, because a denial often isn’t appropriate just because of a late application. When an application is late, claimants can often rely on a…
On October 15, 2019 Madam Justice Young of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, issued her judgement in Greig v. Desjardins , awarding punitive damages of $200,000 and aggravated damages of $50,000 against Desjardins for its conduct in denying a claimant’s long term disability benefits: https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/b… The case involved a claimant who had been denied…
In a Nutshell: Passengers involved in motor vehicle accidents in Ontario need to understand their rights and legal recourse to receive full compensation for any and all injuries and damages sustained. If you are a passenger injured in a car accident in Ontario you have the legal right to make a claim for injuries and…
By their very nature, corporations are soul-less, heart-less entities (they exist only as legally created entities). Decisions often appear to be dictated by targets, time-lines and balance sheets. When people are cut off of their benefits by their long-term disability insurers (such as Manulife, Great West Life, London Life, etc.) they often complain about feeling…
When you are injured in a car accident, there are usually two parts to your claim – (1) an accident benefits claim; and (2) a claim against the other driver (which is secretly defended by the other driver’s insurer). Both of those companies have the right to not listen to treating doctors and to, instead,…
In Ontario, a “pain and suffering” award is only available to people who suffer a ‘permanent and serious physical or psychological impairment or permanent and serious scarring’. For many of those people that have, through no fault of their own, suffered serious and permanent injury, the insurance company who insures the at-fault driver then gets…