Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”) regularly publishes Bulletins which are meant to guide insurers and claimants on the permissible and impermissible practices surrounding claims for accident benefits. In FSCO Bulletin A-14/14, along with outlining regulatory amendments which were to take effect on December 1, 2014, FSCO also sent a strong message about mileage expenses […]...Read More
The provision of supervisory care to an auto accident victim by indirect electronic means, such as texting, emails, telephone calls, FaceTime, or Skype, has now been recognized as qualifying as valid care for the purposes of claiming an attendant care benefit, pursuant to the Order of The Honourable Justice Garson, dated December 30, 2014. Justice Garson […]...Read More
Some lawyers are expressing relief following the repeal of rules that automatically dismissed actions for delay after two years if they hadn’t made their way onto a trial list… Law Times Article...Read More
There are several situations where structured settlements are mandatory by way of legislative or regulatory pronouncements. There are also a number of scenarios where a structured settlement is “mandatory” in the sense that a plaintiff’s lawyer could be found to be negligent if he or she failed to introduce the notion of structured settlements to […]...Read More
Bill 15, Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates, 2014 received Royal Assent on November 20, 2014. The entire bill can be found on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website. This Bill amends four pieces of provincial legislation: The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 The Highway Traffic Act The Insurance Act The Repair and Storage Liens […]...Read More
A Superior Court judge has thrown out a Weston, Ont., lawyer’s claim against several other lawyers and a Law Society of Upper Canada bencher on the basis that it is “utterly unmeritorious.”… Read Canadian Lawyer Magazine Legal Feeds Article...Read More
Listening to the news about the cresting flood waters in Manitoba, I am reminded about the flood of accident benefit disputes making its way through Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO). There was a time when I would file a FSCO mediation and then diarize the file for one year or even more, waiting for […]...Read More
Bill 15, introduced in the Ontario Legislature on July 15, 2014, is a combination of two earlier bills which died with the spring election call. You can read Bill 15 in its entirely on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website. It is divided into 5 areas, being amendments to the Consumer Protection Act, the Highway […]...Read More
The Ministry of Finance has engaged the accounting firm KPMG to provide annual reports to the government in 2014 and 2015 on a variety of issues relating to auto insurance, including the effect of the 2010 changes on the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, whether the recommendations made by the Anti-Fraud Task Force have achieved their objectives, the […]...Read More
Personal injury lawyer, Andrew Murray, was interviewed for a Law Times article about the Court of Appeal overturning a lower court judgment that released a man, whose one-punch assault left his victim permanently brain damaged, from paying civil damages award. Read Law Times Article...Read More