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Many insurers reject requests - will yours?
Suppose you're driving your car with three passengers and you hit a deer. No one is hurt, except the animal. Your insurance company quickly pays $24,000 to cover repairs to your damaged car. It's happy to protect you from financial harm after an accident.
Now suppose you and your passengers are all injured after hitting the deer. This time, the insurance company is slower to respond. It may turn down your requests to be repaid for rehabilitation treatments not covered by the health care system (such as physiotherapy or psychological counselling). It may treat you as fakers, exaggerating your injuries. Read more »
Insurance benefits backlog a nightmare for accident victims
Getting hurt in a car crash is bad enough, but for many people in Ontario, it's only the beginning of a lengthy nightmare. People turned down for accident benefits by insurance face a wait of as long as two years before their appeals wind their way through the system administered by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. Read more »
You can invest in stocks, bonds, real estate and now... lawsuits
Bored with stocks, bonds and real estate? Funding lawsuits is gaining ground as an investment. Plaintiffs with a strong legal case they can't afford to bring to court can get backing from investment firms that pay the legal bills in exchange for a share of the settlement, which can be substantial. Read more »
Will 2012 be watershed year or business as usual?
All over Canada, the legal profession faces challenges it has never faced in the past – and the challenges will only become more numerous. Richard Susskind was right on point when he wrote, "Law does not exist to provide a livelihood for lawyers any more than illness exists to provide a livelihood for doctors. Successful legal business may be a by-product of law . . . but it is not the purpose." Read more »
Car injury claims increasingly denied
A Hamilton speech therapist says car insurance companies are increasingly rejecting her recommended treatments for people who've been hurt in accidents. Deidre Sperry helps her clients recover from brain injuries. Those who have been hurt in car accidents represent 95 per cent of her client base. Car insurance companies rejected five of Sperry's recommended treatment plans this year. She said that is more rejections than in her previous 11 years of practice combined. Read more »
Ontario auto insurance changes affecting rehab coverage
Ontarians injured in car accidents are finding out that in many cases, the rehab prescribed by their health providers will not be covered by their insurance. Dr. Donna Ouchterlony, the director of the brain injury clinic at Toronto's St Michael's Hospital, says insurance companies are declining more and more treatment plans. "They no longer have to have a doctor review [in order] to refuse [treatment]," she said. "The impact is profound." Read more »
The Loan Arrangers
Former law clerks with decades of experience in both defendant and plaintiff law firms, they evaluate liability and come up with an estimate of value and a projected time frame for a resolution of the claim. Pauwels says BridgePoint is the only company in Canada that uses this assessment system and other lenders rely on the lawyers involved to determine the value of their own cases, and like homeowners who overestimate the price of their own houses, lawyers often overestimate the amount their case will be worth at settlement or at trial. Read more »
Devastating accident leaves cyclist struggling with insurance payout
On Nov. 29, 2010, Charlene Groh was hit by an SUV while riding her bike near her home at Lakeshore Blvd. W. and Parkside Drive. For the first eight hours, doctors were not sure if she would live. She spent the next four months in the hospital, and was unable to walk for three of those months. Read more »
Accident victims still waiting
Being able to obtain insurance benefits on a timely basis is no easy task. If justice delayed is justice denied, then Ontario car accident victims are certainly getting the short end of the stick. Under Ontario's no-fault car insurance system, those injured in car accidents are entitled to certain statutory accident benefits for things like partial income replacement, attendant care, and rehabilitation services. The extent of the benefits is dependent on the extent of the injuries suffered, defined as minor, non-catastrophic and catastrophic. But being able to obtain accident benefits on a timely basis is no easy task. Read more »
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