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  • FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
  • FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education

Latest News Articles

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Could a VR walk in the woods relieve chronic pain?

When pain researcher Diane Gromala recounts how she started in the field of virtual reality, she seems reflective.

She had been researching virtual reality for pain since the early 1990s, but her shift to focusing on how virtual reality could be used for chronic pain management began in 1999, when her own chronic pain became worse. Prior to that, her focus was on VR as entertainment.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/virtual-reality-chronic-pain-1.3976069

How Much Latitude Will the LAT Give to Missed Deadlines: S.G. and Unifund

The decision of Adjudicator Truong in  S.G. and Unifund Assurance Company, LAT: 16-000879/AABS addresses the importance of complying with Case Conference Orders and emphasizes the applicability of the “Heath Analysis” when considering entitlement to Non-Earner Benefits.

http://www.ztgh.com/resources/blog/how-much-latitude-will-the-lat-give-to-missed-deadlines-s-g-and-unifund

Pizza Oven Heat Therapy

In the LAT decision A.B. and Aviva (December 23, 2016) a claim for non-earner benefits, medical benefits and interest was considered. Vice-Chair J.R. Richards followed the well established test set out by the Court of Appeal in Heath v. Economical in considering, “complete inability to carry on a normal life”. When faced with surveillance which showed the claimant working delivering pizzas post accident, the claimant raised a novel argument which will henceforth be called  the “pizza oven heat therapy” argument.   He stated he was working unpaid as the heat from the pizza ovens alleviated his pain.

http://www.ztgh.com/resources/blog/pizza-oven-heat-therapy

FAIR Letter to Director of Arbitrations FSCO re Dr. T. Feb 23 201

This is not a criminal case where there may be some risk to the expert witness. Recent exposure in the media regarding Ontario’s ‘expert’ evidence in auto insurance cases point to the pervasive harm and poor outcomes for claimant cases at every level of court hearings and the excessive incomes of some IME vendors. There’s been evidence of bias, medical file manipulations, forged signatures and excessive incomes relating to IMEs that have found to be so lacking in substance and honesty that Ontario’s Superior Court Justices have made negative comments in their decisions. The exposure in the Toronto Star and National Post should be viewed as an opportunity to correct the problem with expert evidence and not a reason to protect those witnesses at hearings. Whether real or not, the perception is the FSCO Arbitration Unit is protecting this insurer medical expert from accountability.

Letter to Director of Arbitrations FSCO re Dr. T. Feb 23 2017

LSUC SECOND REPORT OF THE ADVERTISING AND FEE ISSUES WORKING GROUP FEBRUARY 2017

Second Report of the Advertising and Fee Issues Working Group.  The report’s recommendations will be voted on by Convocation on Thursday, Feb 23, 2017

LSUC FEB 2017 Advertising and Fee Issues WG Report to Convocation

Betrayal of Trust BROADCAST DATE : FEB 17, 2017 9PM

We turn to lawyers when we’re often at our must vulnerable. It’s a relationship built on trust. but what happens when that trust is betrayed? A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services. So who’s protecting Canadians from untrustworthy lawyers? Mark Kelley investigates.

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2016-2017/betrayal-of-trust

Privacy, open courts and re-publication

A.T. v. Globe24h.com, 2017 FC 114 (CanLII) [First published in Canadian Lawyer Magazine]

There is no easy way to manage private facts in public documents, especially when the documents are posted online. For more than a decade, Canadian courts, tribunals and legal publishers have followed recommendations from the Canadian Judicial Council to shield court records from being easily accessed by search engines. This, it is felt, provides the needed balance between accessibility and privacy.

http://canliiconnects.org/en/commentaries/4466

Car Accident Lawyers and how it all works

Since 2000, there have been more than 1.6 million car accidents on Canadian roads. That’s nearly 400 a day, around 200 of which occur in Toronto and the GTA. In the year 2012 alone, approximately 160,000 Canadians were killed or injured in road accidents. It is unsurprising, then, that many Canadians rely on car accident lawyers to help them access compensation to pay for rehabilitative, medical and attendant care following their accident.

http://blogs.lawyers.com/attorney/automobile-accidents/car-accident-lawyers-and-how-it-all-works-39684/

P.L.F.R. v. Intact Insurance Company, Tribunal File No. 16-000145/AABS (LAT)

In what is believed to be the first LAT decision on catastrophic impairment, Vice-Chair Flude held that the applicant, who had been intubated and sedated before having GCS scores of 9 or less recorded, had suffered a catastrophic impairment.

http://otlablog.com/16-000145-aabs-lat/

Toronto hospital fires 31 employees after audit finds $200,000 in irregular health benefits claims

TORONTO — A top Toronto hospital and research centre has fired dozens of employees for alleged misuse of its employee benefits plan.

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/national/toronto+hospital+fires+employees+after+audit+finds+24200/12910404/story.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter&utm_term=Autofeed#link_time=1487109548