How long does it take to receive a settlement offer?

How long does it take to receive a settlement offer in a personal injury claim? This is a question that many clients ask of their personal injury lawyer and the fact is it varies greatly depending on the type of case. I always tell people that it is not a matter of when you receive your settlement offer, it is a matter of how much and when. In most cases, a personal injury lawyer could settle your case very quickly for a very low amount of money.

What takes time is getting the right amount of money. The reason why it can sometime take longer is because of complexity. People who are for instance, self employed have a more challenging time proving their income loss than people who are straight T4 employee and have good tax records and employment records. Another reason why it can take longer to settle a case or receive a settlement offer is because liability is contested. There can be issues with how the accident happened or it could be a medical malpractice case. The defendant, insurer or institutional defendant may not think they are responsible to pay you anything at all and because of that the case has to go through the judicial system up to a point where one or both parties decides its time to settle.

What are policy limits?

Policy limits are the maximum amount of insurance coverage you have available under your policy to respond to or pay for any claims or lawsuits. This is referred to in insurance policies as third party liability coverage. In Ontario most automobile or home-owner insurance policies provide for one or two million dollars of third-party liability coverage. To determine your policy limits, review the coverage page of your insurance policy or call a Will Davidson lawyer for assistance.

Why do I need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

There are really three reasons why you need a personal injury lawyer if you’ve been injured in an accident. The first one is to advise you of your legal rights and remedies.

The fact is a lot of personal injury cases are very complicated particularly motor vehicle accident claims. There can be many different types of benefits available to you. Even in a slip and fall case or first party disability case there’s a lot of things you need to understand in order to make decisions about how you want to proceed. Without consulting with a personal injury lawyer, you can be left in the dark.

The second main reason why you might need a personal injury lawyer is to protect your legal interests. There are certain mandatory notices that are required within a certain timeframe that if you miss, your claim may be statue barred. You want to make sure that you have someone who’s watching out for you to make sure that your legal interests are protected.

And finally, and probably most importantly you need a personal injury lawyer to represent you in a lawsuit. It’s unlikely that you would be able to resolve a complicated or even a simple personal injury claim on your own without the assistance of legal counsel. Should your matter go into litigation you need a lawyer who is licensed to practice law to represent you in our judicial system all the way up to and including a trial to get you the justice that you’re entitled to

What is considered Doctor Medical malpractice?

Doctor medical malpractice is when a physician has fallen below the standard of care in his/her treatment of a patient and has caused harm to that patient in some degree. Typically the standard of care that’s expected of a doctor is to behave or treat the patient in the same way that another reasonable prudent physician would’ve done so in the similar circumstances. So, what is considered negligence is very specific to the specialty of the physician that is alleged to have been negligent.

What should I do if I find mould or water damage in my house?

Mould and water damage often impact air quality and can cause further damage to a house if not dealt with. But if the damage predated your purchase of the house there’s a chance your home insurance won’t cover the cost to repair. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the hook to cover the cost. If the reason for the damage is a defect in construction the builder could be responsible- even if they aren’t the ones that sold the house to you.

And if the building department that was overseeing the construction, should’ve identified the defect during an inspection, they could be liable as well. If the damage was hidden when you purchased the house but the sellers knew about it, they could also be on the hook and then you need to look at the roles that any professionals such as lawyers, real estate agents and home inspectors played in the purchase. Will Davidson’s property damage team has extensive experience dealing with these issues. If you discover serious mould or water damage in your home. We urge you to contact us for a free consultation as soon as possible. We know all too well how serious these issues can be and we look forward to helping you protect what is likely one of your most valuable assets

How is pain and suffering calculated?

People often refer to pain and suffering as a type of damage that they might receive in a personal injury lawsuit. Another term for pain and suffering is general damages. The reason it is referred to as general damages is because it is meant to generally compensate a person who suffered an injury for the loss of amenities of life and other inconveniences that they have to endure because of their injuries. In Canada and in Ontario, the Supreme Court of Canada set a cap meaning a limit or maximum on the amount of pain and suffering that anybody can receive in a personal injury claim. They set that cap at $100,000 almost forty years ago.

This amount has been adjusted for inflation since then and now stands at around $350, 000 as the maximum anyone can ever receive for pain and suffering. So if you imagine the most seriously of injured persons, catastrophic brain injury or lost limbs, they may receive the maximum or somewhere close to the maximum and then moving down depending on the injury, general damages or pain and suffering damage awards tend to keep going down. A lot of people think that damage awards in the United States are out of control because of million-dollar damage awards. The main reason for that is because many States in the United States do not put a cap or maximum amount on general damages (or pain and suffering damages) and as a result judges and juries can award much more than what we conservatively award in Canada at a maximum of about $350,000.