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An amendment to the Ontario Insurance Act was enacted in 2015 to lower costs that insurance companies face when confronted with auto collision claims. This amendment led to significant increases in deductibles for injured victims. A deductible is the amount of money deducted from an injured person’s non-pecuniary damages (i.e., losses related to their pain and suffering and loss of

As we head further into the summer season, your patience for sheltering in place due to COVID-19 may be wearing thin. You may be considering driving further than to and from your local grocery store as restrictions ease throughout the province. However, before taking off for any destination, it’s important to check government restrictions for the areas where you wish

With the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, insurance companies have had to adjust their methods in dealing with their insureds. This is certainly true in Ontario for those who have been injured in a car accident. In the new norm of COVID-19, insurance companies need to be more flexible than ever in how they communicate with their customers. They also need to

Ontario should abandon its two-and-a-half decade old experiment with no-fault auto insurance, says Barrie-area personal injury lawyer Steve Rastin. In his recent report on the state of auto insurance in Ontario, David Marshall, the former CEO of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), delivered a withering assessment of the province’s regime after he was appointed by the government to study

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 Gluckstein Lawyers. “I

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