Last week, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) told us what we already know: Auto insurance rates in Ontario are the highest in the land. In fact, they’re higher by an average of 55 per cent.
http://driving.ca/auto-news/ne
Author Archives: Admin4
Yes, Ontario insurance is a wreck, so you need to shop around
Why aren’t we holding experts’ feet to the fire?
So, I see a twitter link to a new court case where an insurance defence expert is criticized for failing to understand his role as an objective expert. The court says that the doctor mischaracterized his current practice and experience in order to downplay the amount of insurance defence work he had done and play up the inaccurate idea that he was still a practising specialist at a major health institute. The Court found that the doctor was not credible or reliable. It stated that “Dr. Hershberg was cavalier in his approach to the requirement to be accurate with respect to his curriculum vitae, when obtaining information from the plaintiff during the examination, and in reporting as to the information he obtained from the plaintiff.”
http://iavgo.org/why-arent-we-
Time to repair Ontario’s auto insurance clunker
It’s no surprise to learn that Ontario’s auto insurance regime is an expensive mess, but the numbers in a new report for the provincial government are still shocking. Ontario drivers are paying $4 billion a year more than they would if Ontario’s rates were at the Canadian average. That’s more than $500 for every car insured.
http://www.kingstonthisweek.co
Defend Victims, Not Personal Injury Lawyers’ Bottom Lines
Recently, perhaps as a response to MPP Mike Colle’s private member’s bill, some in the media have taken to defending personal injury lawyers and legal contingency fees.
I have to wonder if any of these people has ever been injured in a car accident or had to enlist the services of a personal injury lawyer.
Proposed contingency-fee limit too low
A 15-per-cent cap on contingency fees could spark an access-to-justice crisis, says Kitchener civil litigator Graham Bennett.
In March, Toronto MPP Mike Colle introduced a private member’s bill, the proposed Personal Injury and Accident Victims Protection Act, that, if passed, would enact amendments to Ontario’s Solicitors Act and its Law Society Act to limit lawyers’ fees to 15 per cent of the total settlement received by their personal injury clients. The bill, which passed first reading in the provincial legislature, would also ban referral fees paid between lawyers for files.
http://www.advocatedaily.com/g
Contingency fees by Ontario personal injury lawyers should be limited, report says
“There is clear urgency to make the accident benefits system simple and accessible without the need for legal representation,” says the report, written by David Marshall, former CEO of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. “In many ways, the need to have lawyers involved to negotiate settlements in what should be a straightforward, no-fault, accident benefits system signals a failure in the system.”
My view from ‘the dark side’ of personal injury law | Sandra Kovacs
For the first decade of my legal career I was an insurance defence litigator. Firmly entrenched in that practice, I will reluctantly admit that my then-impression of the opposing counsel who worked for injured plaintiffs, with notable exceptions, was clichéd.
Applicant eligible to make IRB claim 9 years post accident
G.P. was injured in an accident on August 31, 2006, and she received an IRB until her return to work on September 30, 2006. On October 19, 2006, Aviva sent an Explanation of Benefits that acknowledged G.P.’s eligibility for an IRB
https://www.deutschmannlaw.com
New Brunswick auto insurers are too hard on social assistance recipients: Lawyer
A lawyer claims that auto insurance companies in New Brunswick are not just charging residents on social assistance numerous minor fees, but are also passing some treatment fees on to taxpayers, hurting the entire region.
Ontario basic income pilot project to be tested in Hamilton, Lindsay, Thunder Bay
Residents living in the Ontario communities of Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay will be the first to receive a guaranteed minimum income as part of a new provincial pilot project.
Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement alongside Minister of Community and Social Services Helena Jaczek and Minister of Housing Chris Ballard in Hamilton, Ont. on Monday.
http://globalnews.ca/news/3399
https://news.ontario.ca/mcss/e