The Licence Appeal Tribunal has, as of October 12, 2016, issued nine decisions since it assumed jurisdiction to resolve statutory accident benefit disputes six months ago. Although the sample size is small these decisions may provide some insights regarding future proceedings.
Author Archives: Admin4
Mediating a personal injury case: what to expect
Mediation is a popular tool used by lawyers to settle personal injury cases in Ontario. In some jurisdictions (Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa) mediating a personal injury case is mandatory before it can proceed to trial. The Insurance Act also contains provisions requiring mediation for an accident benefit dispute in Ontario. Some courts have even found that a car insurer’s refusal to participate in a mediation is bad faith claims handling and awarded the plaintiff damages in this regard.
http://www.advocatedaily.com/b
Catastrophic Impairments and the Law
Every year thousands of Ontario drivers and passengers end up with serious impairments following motor vehicle accidents. Some of those impairments will be catastrophic, even if the original injuries were not.
http://www.ottawa-attorneys.ca
WSIB ignoring workplace chronic mental stress
Until 1998, Ontario worker’s compensation system compensated workers with mental health injuries, whether they were chronic, acquired over time, or acute, from a traumatic event. For many years, the basic principles of workers compensation allowed workers who suffered from conditions such as major depressive disorder, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder because of their work were entitled to benefits.
http://rankandfile.ca/2016/11/
Minister told to raise welfare rates instead of consulting
Enough with the consultations — that was the message anti-poverty activists had for Ontario’s social services minister, who was in town to hear public views on a basic income pilot project.
Driven: Crash survivors open up about life-changing injuries
Debbie Templeman lost the use of her legs in a car accident when she was 20 years old.
She had just graduated from nursing school, with her whole life ahead of her.
She says all of that vanished in an instant.
“My future, I knew, was going to be totally changed because I was now paralyzed, in a wheelchair for life.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/
Modern Medicine – An Independent Perspective
While the charts of these unfortunate patients “age”, physicians stand by helplessly and sometimes not even caring while making the patient’s condition worse by over-medicating. Meanwhile, the charts are maturing and legal fees continue to mount. Many diverse professionals derive profit from the never ending assessments requested by legal representatives and physicians working for the insurance companies; realistically haggling over what is best for them and seldom, if ever, with any real consideration of the patient. Clearly, these legal proceedings are not only reprehensible, but should be termed criminal activities. At the same time, politicians knowingly stand by without initiating drastic reforms to rectify these matters.
Cuts to insurance regime failing injured victims
The story of an Ontario man whose family is on the brink of bankruptcy from paying for rehabilitation support illustrates the devastating impact of cutbacks to the province’s statutory accident benefits regime, says Toronto personal injury lawyer Paul Cahill.
http://www.advocatedaily.com/p
New Ontario Financial Services Regulator is Needed Says Shop Insurance Canada
(PRLeap.com) November 22, 2016 – Two weeks ago, the Ontario government released its 2016 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review. One key component of the annual report was a commitment from the government to create legislation for parameters that would establish the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). The new service will replace the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).
Challenging the Denial of CPP benefits: Success on Appeal
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Canada’s largest public disability insurance program, has been the subject of recent criticism. Applicants with long-term and disabling conditions whose claims for CPP disability benefits have been denied are finding it harder to get those decisions overturned on appeal. Appeals are made to the Social Security Tribunal of Canada (SST). As reported in the Globe and Mail,[1] in 2013-14, “just 43.4 per cent of appellants were able to convince an adjudicator of the SST that they had been wrongfully denied”.
http://bogoroch.com/blog/chall