The only Ontario doctor to face formal discipline as a result of a province-wide investigation sparked by the opioid crisis has agreed to give up his licence and never practice medicine again.
Author Archives: Admin4
Advocates pin hopes on budget for roadmap out of poverty
Anna Costa has seen both sides of Ontario’s miserly and rule-bound welfare system and can’t understand why the province doesn’t fix it.
Stegenga v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company, 2018 ONSC 1512 (CanLII)
[1] The defendant insurer moves under Rule 21 for an order to strike the statement of claim on the ground that it discloses no reasonable cause of action, and for determination of a question of law, to wit: whether the plaintiff’s claim is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Licence Appeal Tribunal.
[2] The plaintiff pleads:
- that she was injured in a car accident,
- that the defendant is liable to pay her Statutory Accident Benefits, and
- that it has shown bad faith, negligence and fraud in administering her claim.
[3] As a result she claims damages for mental distress and aggravated and punitive damages.
[4] The defendant submits that the claim is barred by s.280 of the Insurance Act, SO 2014, c. 9, Sched. 3, s.14. The plaintiff says that the legislation prevents her from suing for accident benefits, but does not bar her independent claims for bad faith in the administration of accident benefits.
[6] Section 10 of RRO 1990, Reg. 664 provides:
- If the Licence Appeal Tribunal finds that an insurer has unreasonably withheld or delayed payments, the Licence Appeal Tribunal, in addition to awarding the benefits and interest to which an insured person is entitled under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, may award a lump sum of up to 50 per cent of the amount to which the person was entitled at the time of the award together with interest on all amounts then owing to the insured (including unpaid interest) at the rate of 2 per cent per month, compounded monthly, from the time the benefits first became payable under the Schedule. O. Reg. 43/16, s. 4.
[7] The question before me is whether a dispute “in respect of an insured person’s entitlement to statutory accident benefits or in respect of the amount of statutory accident benefits to which an insured person is entitled” includes a claim for administration of accident benefits fraudulently, negligently or in bad faith. The words of a statute are to be read in their entire context and in their grammatical and ordinary sense harmoniously with the scheme and object of the Act and the intention of Parliament.
Auto Insurance is on the radar in the election – facts you should know part 1
The at-fault insurer does not pay the first $38,000 in pain and suffering damages; why the large deductible?
More Canadians are acting as their own lawyer because they don’t have a choice
It is a trend most Canadian judges and lawyers do not like: a growing number of Canadians are representing themselves in court. Some hire a lawyer then find the legal fees are unaffordable. Others opt to argue their own case from the beginning.
Shorten timelines and improve perverse system
On a recent occasion, I listened to a family lawyer colleague talk about the circumstances of a case where the parties seemed to be really intransigent.
The case had had a number of twists and what seemed to me to be some bad behaviour on both sides. I was curious enough to ask how long the case had been going on.
http://www.lawtimesnews.com/ar
Expert Advice Series: Consultation and Collaboration between Counsel and Expert Witnesses. Where to Draw the Line.
In 2015, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed in Moore v Getahun that it is appropriate and essential for counsel to consult and collaborate with expert witnesses in preparing expert reports. However, this practice is not without limits considering an expert’s duty to provide a fair, objective and non-partisan opinion. In this third article in a series on expert evidence, the jurisprudence on where counsel should draw the line in providing input to an expert witness is surveyed.
Vision Zero in Ontario: Is Momentum Picking Up?
Death and serious injuries are an unacceptable price to pay for speed on city streets. Humans make mistakes. Streets can be redesigned for safety and compensate for human imperfection. Those are the key premises of Vision Zero, which we wrote about last February. A year later, we are encouraged to see that Vision Zero is gaining momentum in Ontario.
http://www.vandykelaw.ca/2018/
The ‘radical paradigm shift’ that’s changing Ontario’s oversight system for health professionals
Toronto doctor Javad Peirovy was found guilty three years ago of sexually abusing four female patients.
He “inappropriately touched” their breasts, they reported to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), the self-regulator of doctors in the province.