Tips for Selecting the right Injury Lawyer

Selecting the right personal injury lawyer takes time. How can you ensure you’re making the right choice?

Often the best way to pick a lawyer is by speaking with family and friends about their experience with a particular lawyer. If you are trying to choose a lawyer where you don’t have a friend or family member’s referral to the lawyer, the most important thing in my opinion is that you need to feel ‘comfortable’ with the lawyer you selected.

For cases that operate on contingency, you do have an opportunity to try visiting or speaking to a few different lawyers to determine who you trust or click with more. Take advantage of meeting multiple law firms to get a feel. It may seem like an extra step but it will help you compare.

Lastly, you can look a the history of Google Reviews to ascertain an overall feel and assessment of the firm. Google currently has the most trustworthy review system, whereas many other ‘local review’ websites are more manipulated with ‘fake’ reviewers.

Other preferences:

Some want their lawyer to be located downtown in a high-rise office tower and be dressed in a three-piece suit. If that’s what makes you feel comfortable and gives you a sense trust in your lawyer, then that’s where you should look for your lawyer. Alternatively, some folks find a smaller law firm where the lawyers are ‘approachable’ and give you a good first impression.

You want someone who is experienced in the field where you need help, will listen to you and work hard for you. Ultimately you should hire the lawyer who provides a sense of comfort and trust.

* Input from Ofee Injury Law.

Condos or Townhome vs Single Family House

For the most, a house will be the single greatest purchase of their lifetime. This is particularly true in large cities where real-estate prices are much higher than rural areas. There is a significant amount of research, a well defined process, and necessary expertise to close real-estate transactions. But are there differences between single family home and townhouse / condo transactions?

Yes there is, and it’s more than just preference, but let’s start there.

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Pleading in Civil Action in Canada

Pleadings function to include written statements of the parties to an action, served by each party in turn on the
other, and filed in court, which set forth in a summary form the material facts on which each party relies in support of the claim or defence, as the case may be.

By the time the pleadings are closed, there will be a precise definition of the issues between the parties.

There are 3 fundamental principles of pleading:
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Intro to Regulatory Offences

Regulatory offences: Some offences utilize the machinery of criminal law, but are not truly considered to be criminal offences. These offences deal with everyday civil matters such as traffic infractions, pollution, hunting regulations, and so forth. Besides the supremely important fault requirement (discussed below), there are a number of ways to identify a “regulatory offence” from a “true crime”:

1. true crimes are usually more socially and morally condemned than regulatory offences.
2. regulatory offences are usually aimed at deterring harm to the public, rather than the individual.
3. regulatory offences are often part of a complex regulatory framework.
4. regulatory offences are not in the Criminal Code (R. v Wholesale Travel, 1993).

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Keeping an Injury Diary

If you’ve ever been injured in an accident such as a motor vehicle, then you may be seeking compensation for damages. Damages to your car is one thing, but to your body is quite another. Soft tissue damage is unseen (another blog post) and can be a prolonged injury.

Some believe keeping an injury diary is a good way to keep track of the increasing severity of their injury overtime. This may sound like a good idea at the outset, but it turns out to work against the injured. Here’s why. Continue reading “Keeping an Injury Diary”

Confidential Employees – Collective Bargaining

Confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining because they might be able to give the union access to matters that the employers do not wish them to know about such as bargaing strategy, grievances, etc. (Canadian Union of Bank Employees v. Nova Scotia). That being said, confidential employees will only be excluded if there is a demonstrated conflict of interest (see test).

Alberta, Canada moves to no-fault insurance in January 2027

Alberta’s New Care‑First No‑Fault Auto‑Insurance Model Coming Soon

In a major reform, Alberta is replacing the traditional tort-based auto‑insurance system with a Care‑First no-fault model, slated to take effect on January 1, 2027. (Alberta.ca )

The change is purported to deliver faster compensation and more comprehensive medical care, yet comes at the cost of significantly limiting Albertans’ rights to sue at-fault parties for injuries.

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On the Hook for Debts of an Estate?

When someone leaves you some cash, land, a turtle, behind in their will, who is on the hook for any outstanding debts?

It goes without saying, nowadays there are fewer and fewer people retiring with a mound of cash. Some of our elderly folks need to work well into their seventies, and even then they’ll end up racking up debt to stay afloat.

In a will a Executor is appointed over the estate to divvy everything up. But what happens when you have more debts than assets? Continue reading “On the Hook for Debts of an Estate?”

Customary International Law in US litigation under the Alien Tort Claims Act

The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) was originally passed as anti-piracy statute back in the 1800s. However, it came back to prominence in the 1980s. The -act states that if you are a non-US citizen your claim can be heard in a federal court, but your claim has to vis either a violation of treaty or a violation of custom.

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Introduction to the Tort of Negligence

Here are some introductory points on the tort of negligence.

The Elements of a Negligence Action –

Remember, the plaintiff usually has the burden of proving the first five, while the defendant has the burden of proving the sixth.

1. Duty of Care (limiting step) – there are policy considerations that can lead to the finding and non finding of a duty of care; this duty of care exists when it is reasonably foreseeable that your actions will have an effect on another person.

2. Standard of Care and its Breach – in most (but not all) negligence actions, the standard of care is the reasonable person standard .

3. Causation – has the breach of the duty of care caused an injury to the plaintiff? But for the breach of the duty of care, would the injury have occurred?

4. Remoteness of Damages (limiting step) – also called legal causation; if the damages are found to be too remote from the breach of the standard of care, then the plaintiff will not win the case.

5. Actual Loss – without loss, the plaintiff will not be successful (as opposed to intentional torts)

6. Defences – voluntary assumption of risk, illegality