Posts Tagged ‘top ottawa law firms’
Check your car tires..Ottawa Accident Lawyer David Hollingsworth
Ottawa personal injury lawyer David Hollingsworth Ottawa Accident Lawyer..Wishing everyone out there a great and safe long weekend. Pleased rive, swim, bike, ride and boat safely !!!
According to Department of Transport Road Accident Statistics, the number of car accidents caused by weather and snow covered roads increase in winter by 267 percent. Obviously we can’t control the weather conditions but we can reduce car accident statistics considerably by replacing the tires according to the weather conditions. Many Ontario residents and those who live in colder areas, change their car tires prior to start of winter season and again in spring or summer. This is done for the sake of safety as the experienced car drivers know that the ambient temperature is directly related with their tires performance. The research also indicates that ambient temperatures below 7 degrees celcius potentially trigger hazardous driving conditions. Insurance companies statistics also support this view stating that the increase in car accident damage insurance claims increases drastically with the onset of colder weather. This is why it is extremely important to ensure you have tires that are in good condition. Test rides have proved that whenever temperatures go below 7ºC, tire rubber become hard and that results in less road grip. Fitting cold weather tires to our vehicles before winter season is the best solution to drive safely, even during the winter, rainy or snowing season, when temperatures are likely to go down below 7C. Cold weather tires provide better mileage while normal tires reduce the mileage up to 20 %. Cold weather tires contain more rubber that minimizes the hardening effect and gives extra grip in wet, cold or icy conditions. As a result, we get shorter breaking distances. Although it may be a hassle, spending a few minutes for tires replacement at the change of weather twice a year for the sake of safety is not only justified, it is essential. Even after adapting this practice, don’t forget to continually check the tires condition and pressure regularly.
Since 1999, David Hollingsworth has been an Ottawa personal injury lawyer working with Goldberg Stroud LLP, an Ottawa law firm of 50 years, helping accident victims and their families who have suffered a personal injury or loved ones of those who have suffered a wrongful death due to motor vehicle accidents and other accidents. David fights to get the maximum amount of compensation for his clients. He understands that you will likely never go through such a difficult time in your life again and you need help now. David Hollingsworth and his personal injury team are here to help. Free consultations and cases are taken on a contingency fee , which means you do not pay David until you get your money.
mobile (613) 978-9549
(613) 237-4922 ext.203
David Hollingsworth, Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer
Ottawa Insurance Claims Lawyer David Hollingsworth: SABS Accident Benefits
Posted by Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer, Ottawa Accident Lawyer, David Hollingsworth in Accident Benefits Insurance Claims, Ottawa Injury and Accidents on July 3rd, 2010
Ottawa accident Benefits Lawyer David Hollingsworth, Ottawa Accident Lawyers.
Who is entitled to Ontario Accident Benefits? Ontario Accident benefits are available to people suffering from personal injury in a motor vehicle accident in Ontario. Often after being discharged from an Ottawa rehabilitation centre, (The Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, The Ottawa Hospital-Civic Campus or Elizabeth Bruyere, in Eastern Ontario) , people with personal injuries will return to their homes only to find that their home needs modifications and their home cannot accommodate them. The Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) is available to motor vehicle (car accident, boating accident etc.. victims in Ontario to help with these modifications.
Accident Benefits Schedule: Typically, Ontario car accident victims can receive accident benefits. Normally, these accident benefits are covered by the injured person’s own insurance company. However, accident benefits also provide coverage for people who do not have their own insurance. Typically, statutory accident benefits are there to replace lost wages, attendant care benefits, rehabilitation and medical benefits as well as wrongful death benefits.
Housing: The insurance company must pay the injured person for all reasonable and necessary home modifications and home devices, including communication aids. Ontario’s statutory accident benefits permits an injured person to buy or renovate a new home to meet his or her needs where that is the option that makes more sense than renovating an existing house. Having said that, the money alloted for the purchase of a home cannot be greater than the estimated cost of any renovations that would be needed to meet the injured victims needs.
The medical and rehabilitation benefits are supposed to pay for all reasonable and necessary expenses that arise because of the accident. Home modification comes under the medical / rehabilitation category.
After September 2010, this information will change. For now, if the injured person did not suffer a “catastrophic impairment” as that is described in the Accident Benefit regime, the total amount of the medical / rehabilitation benefit is $100,000 and the benefits expire after 10 years from the date of the accident. If the injured person did suffer a “catastrophic impairment” the medical / rehabilitation benefit increases to $1 Million and last for the duration of the victim’s life.
Timelines: It is important you notify your insurance company that you have had an Ontario accident within 7 days of the Ontario accident, or as soon as possible, and you must complete your application for Accident Benefits within 30 days of the Ontario accident.
What is an assessment? The assessments give suggestions to assist a person who is injured how to live safely and comfortably in their home if possible. The assessment focuses on returning the person who is injured to a level of function that approaches his or her pre-accident state to the extent that that can be done safely.
People who suffer a catastrophic injury may also need additional assessments . The assessments will result in a report. After the report is written, another form called a “OCF 18: Treatment Plan” will be submitted to the insurance company, outlining the proposed cost of the recommendations in the report. If the OCF 18 is approved, the work can begin.
Are home modifications limited to catastrophic injuries? Sometimes. Where the injured person has suffered personal injury that cause impairment but are on the less serious end of the spectrum, and if the renovations are not going to be extensive, an occupational therapist can perform a home assessment.
An assessment of the activities of daily living of the injured person is included in a home assessment. This assessment looks at personal care, housekeeping, home maintenance and care giving tasks. The report written by the occupational therapist will outline a list of any assistive devices and changes required to the home. For example: a railing, raising or lowering a bed or counter or adding hip-level storage in a kitchen.
If the recommended renovations included in the report are complete, it is submitted to the insurance company together with a Treatment Plan costing the recommendations to the insurance company for approval. If a person has serious personal injury and needs significant home modifications like ramps, additions, elevators, walls moved, a home accessibility report is required. For more information regarding Ontario insurance claims, visit www.ottawainjury.ca .
For over a decade, David Hollingsworth has been an Ottawa personal injury lawyer working with Goldberg Stroud LLP, an Ottawa law firm of 50 years, representing clients who have suffered a personal injury or loved ones of those who have suffered a wrongful death due to motor vehicle accidents and other forms of negligence since 1999. He has successfully represented clients at many levels of court, tribunals and hearings.
Ottawa Accident Lawyer, Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth-
mobile (613) 978-9549 (613) 237-4922 ext.203
Ottawa Accident June 26: Ontario Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth
Ottawa Accident Lawyer David Hollingsworth, Personal Injury Lawyer for Eastern Ontario…I hope all 3 people involved in yesterday’s Ottawa accident will be ok. A head injury can be a life altering experience and wish the accident victims a full and hopefully quick recovery…
Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth, Ontario
Ottawa traffic at Montreal Road and Bathgate Drive was disrupted after an Ottawa car accident at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Ottawa Paramedics say the car crash caused one of the cars to flip on its roof trapping a 40-year-old woman inside. It took the Ottawa fire department more than 15 minutes to get her out. A 45-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man were in the other car and suffered serious head injury and are in an Ottawa hospital.
Throughout the last decade, David Hollingsworth has helped many accident victims with serious brain injury or head injury get their lives back on track after an accident.As one of the best Ottawa Ontario personal injury lawyer, David Hollingsworth has been helping Ottawa accident victims and Ontario accident victims get the help they need and are entitled to after an accident. If you or a loved one has been involved in an Ottawa accident or an Ontario accident and have suffered serious personal injury or even a wrongful death, you are likely entitled to compensation you are not receiving. Let an experienced and highly qualified Ontario personal injury lawyer in Ottawa fight for you. Visit www.ottawainjury.ca for free consultations.
Ottawa Accident Lawyer, Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth-
mobile (613) 978-9549 (613) 237-4922 ext.203
Ottawa accident Macdonald-Cartier bridge results in serious personal injury : Ottawa Lawyer David Hollingsworth
Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth, Ottawa Accident Lawyers, Ottawa Law Firms..
My thoughts go out to this young man, his family and his friends. I wish him a full recovery from his injuries as a result of this tragic Ottawa accident…
A 25-year-old Ontario man faces impaired driving charges after a head-on car accident on the Macdonald-Cartier bridge that left another man in critical condition with serious personal injury. The car accident occurred at 3:58 a.m. A 22-year-old Gatineau man had just started crossing the river from the Ottawa side when his car crashed with another car. The Gatineau man was taken to hospital with multiple critical personal injuries. Both injured men were trapped in the wreckage and had to be extricated. Martin Bernier of Hearst has been charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm, operation of a motor vehicle over 80 milligrams causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He was released Saturday and will appear in Ottawa court on July 19. Anyone with information should contact the collision investigation unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 2481 or Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477 (TIPS).
With over 11 years experience as an Ottawa, Ontario personal injury lawyer, David Hollingsworth has been helping Ottawa accident victims and Ontario accident victims get the help they need following an accident. If you or a loved one has been involved in an Ottawa accident or an Ontario accident and have suffered serious personal injury you are likely entitled to compensation you are not receiving. Let an experienced and highly qualified Ontario personal injury lawyer in Ottawa fight for you. Visit www.ottawainjury.ca for free consultations.
Ottawa Accident Lawyer, Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth-
mobile (613) 978-9549 (613) 237-4922 ext.203
Slip and fall accidents lawyers Ottawa, Law firms Ottawa Ontario
Posted by Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer, Ottawa Accident Lawyer, David Hollingsworth in Ottawa Injury and Accidents, safety on December 9th, 2009
Ottawa Slip and Fall Accidents Lawyer David Hollingsworth…It’s really snowing out here today Ottawa…Watch where you step and walk !
Leading Ottawa based lawyer David Hollingsworth, shares his recommendations for the winter season and Slip and Fall Injuries.
It’s really snowing here in today Ottawa! Please ensure to watch your step! Many often forget to fully consider the potential for personal injury and the associated ramifications of pain and suffering. Even a minor slip can lead you to much stress and tension on you and your loved ones. A slip and fall injury can result in massive medical bills, loss of work, lost wages and more. If a slip and fall injury happens to you, an Ottawa personal injury lawyer can explain to you what your rights are and make sure your interests are protected.
How to Protect Yourself and Your Family:
I deal with a tremendous number and variety of slip and fall accidents on a regular basis each year. Such injuries can happen at any time of the year, and in any location or setting. However, there are certain conditions that render the possibility of injury more likely, so please on to learn how to protect you and your family from the prospect of injury, and to learn what to do in the event that you have been hurt by a slip and fall injury.
Scenario:
There are certain circumstances where the city will be responsible for your injury. For example, imagine you are walking down the street at night. As you try to cross the street, you approach an open man-hole (the city has neglected to put the cover back after working on the sewer system earlier in the evening). Naturally given the lack of light, you do not see the open manhole and fall right through, experiencing broken bones, fractures, and lacerations. Perhaps your injuries are more psychological in nature because you are trapped in the manhole for several hours screaming for help.
Who is Responsible?
The city would be responsible (through the action of one of it’s employees) for their negligence and your injuries. There are many other instances where slip and fall injuries could occur, such as (1) flooring/carpeting in poor repair (2) parking lot surfaces in poor repair (3) ice and snow buildup (4) elevators/escalators/stairways (5) areas with poor lighting, (6) and so on.
Your Compensation:
Depending on the circumstances of injury, your recovery could include compensation to help with stress and tension, medical bills, lost wages, and so on. A good Ottawa personal injury lawyer can give you an idea of what you may be entitled to. Business and property owners have a legal responsibility to ensure that people on their establishment or property are safe and not at risk of suffering an injury. If an accident has happened to you, it may be due to the negligence of a property owner who has failed to act according to their due diligence responsibilities to keep you and your family and loved ones safe.
If your slip and fall accident happened in the Ottawa or the Eastern Ontario area because a property owner failed to keep you safe, David Hollingsworth, one of the best Ottawa personal injury lawyers can help you recover the costs of your medical bills, lost wages, and awards for pain and suffering. With his knowledge and extensive experience, he is the Ottawa personal injury lawyer that can help get the maximum possible awards for slip and fall injury victims and help them recover as best as possible. Visit www.ottawainjury.ca or call 613 978-9549 for more information.
Ottawa Accident Lawyer : Ontario Accident Benefits and No fault Insurance Claims
Posted by Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer, Ottawa Accident Lawyer, David Hollingsworth in Accident Benefits Insurance Claims, Ottawa Car Accidents on November 1st, 2009
Ottawa accident Lawyer David Hollingsworth explains Ontario No-Fault Accident Benefits
Important: Report Your Accident!
The first step in the personal injury process is to report your accident! If you have been injured in an accident in Ottawa or Ontario, there are specific rules that must be followed to secure your personal injury claim. Your top Ottawa personal injury lawyer can help you through this process, to help you gain compensation for your injury, lost earnings, pain and suffering, or simply getting the insurance company to repair or replace your car. Remember, if you do not report the accident, the insurance company will not pay for any of these things enumerated. Top Ontario Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth can help you to ensure that you do not risk losing out on the many important benefits expanded upon below.
The “No-Fault” System of Insurance
In Ontario, we have a “no-fault” process or set of rules for auto accidents. These benefits are called “accident benefits” and basically mean that irrespective of who is responsible or “at fault” for the accident, you are still entitled to a large range of benefits to help you in a time when you are most vulnerable and need the benefits most. Generally, this system of insurance was introduced to provide accident victims with a large variety of benefits to foster their rehabilitation and to reduce the number of claims against insurers.
It is important to note, that such benefits do not cover damages for pain & suffering, or future income-loss. A lawyer will need to be retained if you want to claim for a tort action to recover for such things. A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general. A tort action is lodged against the driver who may have caused your accident. To succeed with a tort claim, your injuries need to be of a “serious and permanent” nature. This requirement of “serious and permanent” to claiming in tort is known as the “threshold”, subject to judicial interpretation and defined by the courts. A top Ottawa personal injury lawyer such as David Hollingsworth will the fluency to understand the fluid nature of the threshold, since the judicial interpretation of the threshold changes constantly. Your success depends on the facts of your case, and how the case is presented. Generally, a victim of an Ottawa personal injury or auto accident has two cases: first, a no-fault case against the insurance company and second, a tort case against the person or insurance company for the driver responsible for the accident. There may be an accident benefit claim and no tort claim or a tort claim and no accident benefits claim, and sometimes there is both a claim in accident benefits and tort. In short, your success depends on the facts of your case, the extent of the injuries, and the skill of your top Ottawa Lawyer. An experienced lawyer can help to explain the nature of the threshold, and it’s complexities to you so that you do not lose out on the benefits that you deserve.
Top Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth can help you to recover accident benefits, including (1) Medical/Rehabilitative, (2) Income Replacement (3) Caregiver Benefits, (4) Housekeeping / Home-maintenance Benefits, and (5) Attendant Care Benefits.
(1) Medical/Rehabilitative Benefits
As the name implies, Medical and Rehabilitative Benefits are designed to deal with costs of treatment for physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, health club, adaptive/assistive devices, aquatic rehabilitation, and generally any other relevant treatments deemed reasonable and necessary for your recovery secondary to your accident. The list of features provided by these benefits is extensive, and can include devices such as therapeutic beds, wheelchairs, canes, ramps and even modified vehicles to accommodate for your accident injuries. A health care professional like a physiotherapist, massage therapist or a doctor must complete a “treatment plan” for you in order to recover these benefits. This is form is submitted to the insurance company for consideration. Generally, accident victims in a “non-catastrophic” cases are entitled to a maximum of $100,000 in benefits over 10 years in med/rehab benefits. Accident victims in “catastrophic cases” are entitled to a maximum of $1,000,000 over the course of a lifetime.
(2) Income Replacement Benefits
Income replacement benefits are designed to replace your income if you are not able to work secondary to your accident. Generally, there is an 80% entitlement to your net pre-accident income (which is averaged from your last year’s pre-accident earnings, or 26 of the 52 weeks before your accident). Generally, the maximum allowable income replacement benefit under a standard automobile insurance policy in Ontario is $400/Week. Issues can arise in claiming income replacement benefits when it is difficult to prove that you were working before your accident, or quantifying your pre-accident income, and so on. An experienced lawyer can help you in this regard because they will know the “ins and outs” of the entitlement opportunties for you.
(3) Caregiver Benefits
Caregiver benefits are designed for individuals who were the primary caregiver for a dependant, such as a young child, elderly person or sick person, at the time of their injury. Due to the injury or accident, these individuals are not able to care for their dependants any longer and require caregiver benefits. Generally, you do not need to show that you made any income prior to your accident. Rather, you are only required to demonstrate your status as the primary caregiver. As to weekly benefits, the caregiver is entitled to about $250/week, with an additional $50 for each extra dependant. A good lawyer will know these details about your benefits and can help you get the benefits you deserve.
(4) Housekeeping/Home-Maintenance
Housekeeping/Home-maintenance benefits are designed to help the accident victim to complete necessary chores, housekeeping or home-maintenance, including the cleaning of dishes, preparation of meals, general cleaning like dusting, mopping, taking out the garbage and so on, which become impossible in situations of physical impairment and injury following your accident. These benefits are generally $100/week and can be claimed by submission of appropriate receipts and invoices to your insurance company. If you do not submit these required documents to your insurer, you will not get these benefits, regardless of how hurt you are. A compassionate lawyer will understand the difficulty you may face with the stress of your injury and can help you to work out a plan so that you are not losing out on any benefits that you deserve.
(5) Attendant Care Benefits
Attendant Care Benefits are designed to compensate for individuals such as your family, friends, loved ones, or whomever is performing attendant care services for you after your injury. These benefits are designed to pay these individuals for their services, which after a tragic injury can include grooming, bathing, grocery shopping, brushing hair, putting on clothes, brushing teeth etc, when the accident victim is no longer able to do so secondary to their accident. As in the other benefits, a lawyer can help you to recover these costs. The process involves enlisting the services of a health care professional (e.g. occupational therapist, etc) to complete a “Form 1″. This form will describe the extent of help and care requirements a victim needs following their injury.
In short, if you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident you may be entitled to many accident benefits from your insurance company. Each year, thousands of victims neglect to see a top Ottawa Lawyer and lose out on many benefits that they deserve that could help them in their recovery. Top Ontario Personal Injury Lawyer David Hollingsworth can help you to ensure you protect and safeguard your interests by recovering your benefits, which can include (1) Medical/Rehabilitative, (2) Income Replacement (3) Caregiver Benefits, (4) Housekeeping / Home-maintenance Benefits, and (5) Attendant Care Benefits. If you do not have insurance, you may still be entitled to these benefits. As an experienced Ottawa personal injury lawyer, David Hollingsworth speaks and meets with people daily who have not been properly compensated by their insurance company. David Hollingsworth knows the system and is here to help you. You have been through an accident; you have been through enough. Visit www.ottawainjury.ca or email david@ottawainjury.ca for a free consultation.
-David Hollingsworth, Ottawa Personal Injury Lawyer
