Personal Injury Archives - Page 3 of 13 - Halifax Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

October 26th, 2011

Chinese Toddler Dies and Creates Storm of Controversy

Last week staff at Guangzhou Military District Hospital announced that Wang Yue had died of the injuries she suffered when she was run down in a hit and run collision in China.

The collision, which was caught on video by a security camera, has raised a storm of controversy around the world because while she lay bleeding in the street almost 20 people walk or drive by the little girl and ignore her.

The video has raised questions about cultural differences between China and North America, legal issues about so-called Good Samaritan laws and moral questions about personal autonomy and our obligations to others.

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September 29th, 2011

Product Recalls are not Proof of Negligence: Johansson v General Motors of Canada Limited

by John McKiggan

Defective Products and Negligence

If a defective product is recalled does that prove that the product was negligently manufactured? That was one of the issues that Justice Murphy of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court had to decide in the recent case of Johansson et al v. General Motors of Canada Limited.

Driver Injured in Car Accident

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September 8th, 2011

Whiplash Injuries and Nova Scotia’s “Minor Injury” Compensation Cap

by John McKiggan

Since 2003 Nova Scotia has had some form of a cap on the amount of compensation innocent accident victims are entitled to receive for their non-pecunaiary damages (what most people refer to as “pain and suffering”). For more information you can read:

Nova Scotia’s Cap on Compensation for ‘Minor Injuries’ in Car Crashes (2003 – 2010)

Although the cap has been in place now for eight years there are few reported decisions where the courts have interpreted what the definitions in the legislation actually mean. As a result, there is still debate between lawyers and insurance adjusters and defence lawyers about what injuries are “capped”.

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August 23rd, 2011

Injuries Increase as Temperatures Rise

by John McKiggan

According to a recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information an average of 45 Canadians are hospitalized every day in the summer as a result of injuries from wheel and water sports.

“Summer is a great time to be active and enjoy the outdoors, but it is also a peak period for motor vehicle injuries and trauma related to wheel and water sports,” said Greg Webster, director of Primary Health Care Information at CIHI.

CIHI has been collecting data for the last 10 years. Their investigation show that cycling injuries account for half of all sport and recreation related hospital admissions.

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August 19th, 2011

Nova Scotia Brain Injury Claims: Signs of Minor Traumatic Brain Injury

by John McKiggan

Diagnosing Traumatic Brain Injury

There are a number of diagnostic tests that doctors use to test for brain injury. The problem is that most of the tests (X-Ray, CT Scan, MRI) are not sensitive enough to detect the subtle changes cause by minor traumatic brain injury.

Several years ago I had a case where I was asked to provide a second opinion to someone who had been in a car accident. She had received an offer of compensation based on the fact that she hyad broken some bones in the accident.

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August 10th, 2011

Court of Appeal Helps Clarify Causation in Personal Injury Claims – Farrant v. Laktin

by John McKiggan

“What Caused My Injury?”

A defendant is only responsible for compensating a plaintiff for injuries caused by the defendant’s negligent conduct. Proving what injuries were, or were not, caused by the defendant’s conduct is often the biggest battle in many personal injury trials. See for example, Causation in Personal Injury Claims.

There has been some legal debate as to how the Supreme Court of Canada’s decisions in Athey v Leonati and the more recent decision of Resurfice Corp v. Hanke relate to one another.

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August 10th, 2011

Supreme Court of Canada Strikes Out Big Tobacco’s Claims Against Canada – R v Imperial Tobacco Limited

by John McKiggan

Tobacco Companies Strike Out Again

Last week the Supreme Court of Canada weighed in (again) on a lawsuit filed by the province of British Columbia, which seeks to recover health care costs for tobacco-related illnesses.

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July 26th, 2011

Turning Your Head Increases Risk of Whiplash Injury

by John McKiggan

“Are Whiplash Claims Capped?”

Recent changes to Nova Scotia’s so-called “minor injury” compensation cap rate the injury using what is known as the Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) Scale. Compensation for non-pecuniary damages for WAD 0, WAD 1 and WAD 2 injuries are “capped” at $7,500.00.

But compensation for more severe forms of whiplash WAD 3 and WAD 4 injuries are not subject to the “minor injury” cap.

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June 27th, 2011

Hot Coffee: The Truth About the MacDonald’s Coffee Case

by John McKiggan

When people I meet for the first time find out I am a personal injury lawyer almost invariably the conversation ends up with them mentioning the lady who spilled hot coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s for $3 million.

Unfortunately there is a stunning lack of public understanding about the real facts of the McDonald’s coffee case. That misunderstanding is fueled by corporate interests who want the public to belive that there is a “problem” with people being able to recover compensation for their injuires.

The insurance industry wants to increase it’s profits by limiting access to justice and the rights of innocent victims to receive full and fair compensation for their injuries.

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June 3rd, 2011

Nova Scotia Car Accident Claims – Insurance Review Recommends Improvements to NS System

by John McKiggan

The consultant hired to conduct a review of Nova Scotia’s auto insurance system has recommended improvements to help benefit consumers.

The Atlantic Provinces Trial Lawyers Association was asked to sit on the Board that reviewed the insurance legislation: McKiggan Appointed to Provincial Insurance Review Committee

My colleague Ray Wagner and I proposed a number of improvements to Nova Scotia’s insurance scheme that have been adopted and recommended to the government for implementation.

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Category: Personal Injury