Personal Injury
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August 20, 2024
Coercive control bill should tackle familial elder abuse | Heather Campbell Pope
Bill C-332 is a noble attempt to protect domestic abuse victims from escalating violence. However, the proposed law does not help seniors who are harmed by adult children and other relatives like grandchildren, once again banishing elder abuse to the hinterlands of the criminal justice system.
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August 16, 2024
Court sets prejudgment interest rate, citing plaintiff’s and insurer’s investment returns
The Ontario Court of Appeal has set prejudgment interest on non-pecuniary and past pecuniary damages in a personal injury case to 8.46 per cent, replacing the statutory five per cent rate, after considering a plaintiff’s investment returns during the relevant period.
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August 16, 2024
Desrochers v. McGinnis, 2024 ONCA 63: Expanding liability on owners of vehicles
On July 29, 2014, 24-year-old Megan Desrochers suffered a severe brain injury when the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) she was driving left the roadway and struck a tree. At the time of the collision, she was travelling on Young Road in Prince Edward County en route to the home of Grant and Catherine McGinnis. The collision occurred less than one kilometre from the McGinnis home.
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August 15, 2024
Class action certified alleging use of herbicide led to Parkinson’s disease
The British Columbia Supreme Court has certified a class action against Syngenta AG and its certain subsidiaries for exposure to an active ingredient in a herbicide that was alleged to have caused Parkinson’s disease.
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August 12, 2024
Medical device maker may pay up to $140,000 per patient to settle hip implant class action
Medical device manufacturer Biomet Inc. has entered an agreement to settle a class action concerning allegedly defective hip implants under which affected patients are set to receive up to $140,000 in addition to reimbursement for expenses.
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August 08, 2024
CIVIL PROCEDURE — Appeals — Interlocutory or final orders
Appeal by appellant from motion judge’s summary judgment dismissing his claims for spoliation and intentional infliction of mental suffering and directing that defamation and breach of contract issues be decided by way of a minitrial. The appellant argued that the motion judge misapplied the test for summary judgment and failed to explain why he preferred the respondent’s evidence over the appellant’s evidence.
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August 06, 2024
Ontario Court approves $12M settlement in GM ignition switch defect class action
The Ontario Superior Court has approved a $12 million settlement of a class action concerning allegations that General Motors was aware of an automobile ignition switch defect in certain vehicles it had sold as much as 12 years before it began recalling affected vehicles.
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August 02, 2024
Is the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program a sham? | Jasmine Daya
The vaccine rollout was eagerly anticipated by Canadians who were seeking a return to some form of normalcy following lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that commenced in March 2020. There is no doubt that the effects of the pandemic will be felt for years to come, but the extent to which they will be felt is still unknown.
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August 01, 2024
Suggested regime in personal injury case would discourage settlement: Ontario Court of Appeal
Ontario’s highest court has rejected arguments that the plaintiff in actions that allege a permanent cognitive injury should undergo assessments of their capacity to manage property and personal care before signing minutes of settlement — but that issue may not be settled yet, as a lawyer in the case is saying he is seeking instructions to take the case to the Supreme Court.
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July 31, 2024
AMPs for securities fraud can be debts released by bankruptcy discharge: SCC
Settling conflicting appellate case law over whether the exemption in s. 178(1)(e) of the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act enables administrative money penalties (AMPs) and disgorgement orders imposed by a provincial securities regulator to survive a bankruptcy discharge, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 5-2 that $13.5 million in AMPs imposed by the BC Securities Commission on two undischarged bankrupts for fraudulent securities activity is a debt that can be released by a future discharge in bankruptcy. But it ruled unanimously in addition that approximately $5.6 million in related disgorgement orders would survive any discharge from bankruptcy the pair might obtain in future.