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General Questions
If you are left injured after an accident has occurred, feeling overwhelmed with mental, physical and financial strain is a normal feeling. Our reputation around Toronto has allowed us to develop tremendous relationships with the top doctors, physicians and rehabilitation specialists in this province, ready to help meet your medical needs. Let us help you relieve your insurance paperwork and the legal burden that should not create any extra stress in your life. By trusting our legal team, we aim to obtain the maximum compensation that you deserve while assisting you and your loved ones to find justice. It is our priority to understand our clients and their families, which allows us to get a better understanding of how much their lives are affected by the accident, and to achieve the best results possible.
Call 911, make sure to keep calm and do not panic. Report your accident to the police and make sure to receive necessary medical attention. Call or email Pelz Law Group as soon as possible after your accident to get a free consultation. Our goal is to understand your story and to the best of our ability guide you through the complicated legal process. We have years of experience dealing with personal injury victims and nothing makes us happier helping you and your family get access to the necessary support and make sure you receive maximum compensation for your injuries.
Due to the wide range of circumstances that occur in personal injury claims, each case is unique. The truth is that it is impossible to predict how much money you will recover right after your accident occurred, however we are able to give you a range of what you can expect and explain to you what types of damages you might be entitled to depending on your personal circumstances. There is a wide variety of damages that you as a victim can claim including lost income (past and future), pain and suffering, loss of housekeeping capacity, cost of medical rehabilitation, personal care, and much more. Don’t let those lawyers that promise you hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get you to sign the retainer mislead you. Call us for you free consultation today and get the answers to all your questions.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a personal injury accident. Make sure to seek the necessary medical attention immediately for you and those injured. After receiving the treatment required to relieve immediate injury, find a quiet place and call Pelz Law Group. The faster you obtain a personal injury lawyer after your accident the better are your chances of receiving an outcome you deserve. Call us today so we can advise you in the right direction.
Our firm works on a contingency basis. Meaning, we do not collect any upfront fees and only get paid when and if you get paid. There are no hidden fees. The percentage that we charge depends on the characteristics of your case. Please call Pelz Law Group for your free consultation today and get the answers to all your questions.
It is likely that the case will not make it to trial, as most personal injury claims are settled before trial. If a settlement cannot be agreed upon then we will work with you to prepare your case for trial. Having a trustworthy and experienced lawyer and legal team around you will allow for your chances of success to be more effective and efficient.
The claims process required after an accident should not be a worry of yours. It is not a good idea to fight with insurance companies without legal representation. At Pelz Law Group our number one objective is to alleviate all your hardships associated with filing a claim. We take care of the entirety of the legal process from start to finish and focus our attention on acting in your best interest. Call Pelz Law Group and we will gladly answer all your questions.
In certain personal injury cases it is difficult to determine whether you have an attainable claim. If you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, bicycle accident, slip and fall or other form of personal injury you can attempt to make a personal injury claim. It is very crucial that you contact an experienced lawyer so that he/she can give you a breakdown of what is necessary for your case moving forward. Don’t wait, call Pelz Law Group to receive an immediate free consultation regarding whether or not you have a viable claim.
The time it takes to settle a personal injury case can vary based on the characteristics of the case. On average a personal injury case can take 2-3-years. At Pelz Law Group, we prioritize effectiveness and aim to acquire your settlement in the most efficient manner possible. Compensating you as early as possible will help you relieve the unnecessary hardships associated with being involved in a personal injury accident. (Settlements can take longer, however, that is dependent on the circumstances of the claim).
For most types of personal injury incidents, you have 2 years from the date of your accident to make a claim; however, in some cases, the deadline can be sooner. For example, if you sustained an injury on the property that belongs to a municipality you may only have 10 days to notify them. It is critical not to miss any of the important deadlines as you may lose your right to issue the claim. For this reason, it is extremely important to obtain legal advice immediately.
Other Questions
In Ontario, the litigation process is initiated through the first pleading. Generally speaking, the first pleading that is issued on behalf of the Plaintiff is referred to as a Statement of Claim (SOC). The SOC must provide key pieces of information:
- The identity(ies) of the Plaintiff(s)
- The identity(ies) of the Defendant(s)
- How much you are claiming against the Defendant(s)
- The general details of how the accident happened
- An outline of what the Defendant(s) did to cause the accident?
- A broad list of the injuries and impairments sustained by the Plaintiff
Hint: It’s not a French dessert!
A tort, in common law jurisdiction, is a civil wrongdoing that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. If you are the victim of an accident, you can pursue the at-fault party for compensation (usually provided by their insurance company).
With car accident tort claims, there are several obstacles you need to overcome, such as exceeding a statutory deductible of almost $40,000! You must also prove that your injuries meet a ‘threshold’ by proving that your they caused a permanent and serious impairment of an important physical, mental, or psychological function. This is one of the many reasons you should hire a personal injury lawyer to help you navigate these complex claims.
A motion is a process for requesting that a Judge or Master make an order/resolve an issue before a trial can proceed. For example, during a trial, one of the parties may discover that somebody else was responsible for the Plaintiff’s injury and should be added to the lawsuit. That party would then make a motion to the court and ask the Judge to allow them to serve a claim on that person. The Judge’s decision on a motion may affect how the trial continues, but it does not determine the ultimate outcome of the lawsuit.
In Toronto, a Master is like a Judge but with limited powers. One of the main reasons to bring a motion to a Master rather than a Judge is that the matter will not result in a final disposition of the case. For example, Masters don’t usually hear summary judgment motions, where one party seeks to have the claim dismissed in their favor.
Mediation is a process where an impartial third-party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively participate in the process. The purpose of a mediation is to help parties reach a settlement promptly and effectively.
Simplified procedure refers to the type of court procedure you file your claim under. Until this year (2020), if your claim was $100,000 or less, you could proceed under simplified procedure rather than the standard procedure.
In 2020, when the government increased the limits under simplified procedure to $200,000, they also added a very important change: unless requested by the plaintiff, the trial in a simplified case is heard by a judge alone, instead of a judge and jury.
Why does this matter? First of all, this allows cases to move a lot faster and provides a framework that’s less favorable to insurance companies. In particular, shorter trials and limited cost consequences can give the plaintiff a leg up.
When we look at negligence cases, factual and legal causation are important parts of the analysis.
Factual causation (usually just referred to as causation), refers to the direct consequences of an action. For example, by driving under the influence and hitting someone with your car, you have directly led to their injury.
Legal causation, on the other hand, is more complicated. In these cases, the reason for a person’s injury is less obvious and not so easily related to a culpable act. Legal causation comes into play when someone does something that causes something that causes something else that causes an injury. To address legal causation, you must look beyond the basic chain of causation and ask if the negligence or consequences were reasonably foreseeable. Under legal causation, the result must be caused by a culpable act and there is no requirement that the act of the defendant was the only cause of the injury.
This is one of the most commonly asked questions we receive from our clients – and one of the most difficult to answer!
It is often impossible to answer this question at the time we are retained, especially if it is soon after the accident. This is because nobody knows what the future holds for your recovery: how well or poorly you recover impacts the value of a case. For example, if you have neck pain that resolves after a few months and doesn’t impact your life on a daily basis, your case is going to be worth less than someone whose neck pain progressively gets worse, possibly requiring surgery and impacting their ability to work.
To make matters more complicated, these cases are very subjective – there is no science to determine the worth of each case. Some insurance adjusters and lawyers may therefore not see eye to eye on a case. One of our jobs is to convince insurers that your case is worth what we think it is worth.
