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A report showing Ontarians are still overpaying for insurance is evidence of the province’s broken no-fault insurance system, Barrie-area personal injury lawyer Steve Rastin says. The report, written by York University Professor Fred Lazar for the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA), concluded that the province's auto insurers have accumulated more than $5 billion over the last five years in pre-tax income. In 2016

Concerns expressed in 2015 about the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) assuming responsibility for accident benefits disputes have been validated, says Barrie-area personal injury lawyer Steve Rastin. “Four years ago, as president of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, I made submissions to the previous Liberal government at Queen’s Park and questioned the logic behind this change,” says Rastin, managing partner of Rastin Law Trial Lawyers.

A recent Ontario Superior Court ruling has provided some clarity on how the fault attribution rules ought to be applied to loss transfer disputes in the case of chain-reaction accidents, personal injury lawyer and managing partner of Rastin Trial Lawyers Steve Rastin says. As Rastin explains, Kingsway General Insurance Co. v. Dominion of Canada General Insurance Co. 2017 O.J. No. 391, involved a commercial

A recent Divisional Court of Ontario decision to set aside a ruling made by a provincial Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) adjudicator after the crash victim’s counsel received an anonymous letter is a serious matter. Steve Rastin, managing partner with Rastin Trial Lawyers, says he’s surprised the Divisional Court ruling isn’t receiving more attention. “I hope the new provincial government looks at

Car insurance is a product that we are required by law to have in Ontario. As a product, it is the protection against possible unfortunate situations; the possibility of being in car accident, the possibility of being injured, the possibility of injuring someone else. In our case of Smith v. Co-operators General Insurance Co., [2002] 2 S.C.R. 129 (S.C.C.)   Steve Rastin argued before

By: Anita W.H. Wong The unfortunate answer is yes. According to the Ontario Court of Appeal, in the recent case of Gore Mutual Insurance Company v. Dr. George Carlin et al., heard on July 4, 2018, you are required to return the overpayment. In the Gore Mutual v. Carlin case, Dr. George Carlin was a dentist with a dental practice in Winchester, Ontario when a fire destroyed

We all love a good David vs. Goliath story. You know, the one from Samuel in the Bible, where a little shepherd boy David has nothing but a sling shot and rock in his battle against the nine-foot soldier Goliath, but still manages to hit him in the head and win the battle?  Score one for the underdog, the little guy…

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) provides coverage up to $200,000 for anyone who is injured by an uninsured motorist on a B.C. road or highway. This B.C. government fund is similar to the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund (MVACF), which is the ‘payer of last resort’ in Ontario when there is no other insurance available for injuries or

The civil action, Hamblin v. Standard Life Assurance was commenced after the plaintiff/appellant, Catherine Hamblin was injured in two separate motor vehicle accidents. After the first accident, she applied for, and received long term disability (LTD) payments from a group insurance plan indemnified by Standard Life Assurance, the respondent in this appeal. By the date of the second accident, the appellant was

In Aviva Insurance Company of Canada v. Frank McKeown (2016), Aviva brought an application to determine whether an insurer is obligated to state their reason for an examination under oath (EUO) in order to compel a person claiming statutory accident benefits (SABS) to attend an EUO, if requested by their insurer, pursuant to subsection 33 (2) of the SABS. Aviva was seeking a