Though it takes a unified effort across legal, public interest, and governmental channels to change a law itself, the interpretation of laws and how plaintiffs, defendants, judges, and serious injury attorneys act on those laws changes based on the development of case law. Keeping abreast of the lessons learned from personal injury case law is essential for all serious injury attorneys.
Takeaways from Recent Serious Injury Case Law
As you may already know from your free consultation with a Toronto personal injury lawyer, one of the cruxes of filing a suit for a serious personal injury that is covered by insurance, be it a motor vehicle accident or any other insured accident, is that your injuries must meet the threshold set out in the Insurance Act of Ontario if you want to sue for non-pecuniary losses. From years working with the threshold, here is what serious injury attorneys have learned.
- Judges’ Dubious Opinions of Plaintiffs
- In many cases in Ontario, judges tend to take the testimony of plaintiffs with a healthy dose of scrutiny. Out of self-interest, many plaintiffs tend to understate their abilities and overstate their limitations and have thus lost many judges’ trust.
- Beware of What the Defense Knows
- In some cases, plaintiffs injured at work have gone on the stand and testified that they are completely incapable of working, only for the defense to later show a surveillance video from their place of work proving just the opposite. It should go without mentioning, but lying on the stand is a poor decision.
- Choose Experts Carefully
- Judges will not hesitate to discount the appeal of expert medical witnesses if they have not spent sufficient time with the plaintiff to evaluate his or her particular injuries.
For more info about the current state of personal injury case law from serious injury attorneys, look for a free consultation today.
Source:
http://www.rmc-agr.com/whats-new-in-threshold-case-law-in-ontario/