Gel Encourages Growth of Brain Tissue
Bio engineers at Clemson University have created a gel made up of both synthetic and natural materials that they say has the ability to help brain tissues grow at the site of a traumatic brain injury.
Ning Zhang presented her findings on September 2, 2009 at the Military Research Forum, a conference focused on improving the health of members of the armed forces.
The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia recently released the decision of the Estate of Theresa Anne Jollimore v. The Personal Insurance Company of Canada. The decision of Justice Coady involves a case where a minor (Jollimore) suffered a serious brain injury when the car in which she was a passenger was involved in a car accident.
Father Acts as Litigation Guardian
Because she was a minor, Ms. Jollimore’s father was appointed by the court as her litigation guardian to act on her behalf to bring forward her compensation claim.
I am often asked by my personal injury clients why they have to provide so much personal information to the defendant’s lawyers that appears to have little or no relevance to the injuries they suffered in their accident.
Income Records
When you file a claim for compensation for personal injuries, your entire life essentially becomes an open book. If you are looking for compensation for income loss that you say you suffered as a result of your injury, the defendant is entitled to details of all of your income records up to the time you were injured and since you were injured.
It’s summer time here in Nova Scotia (although you couldn’t tell from the weather we’ve been having lately). Thousands of children across Nova Scotia are attending summer camp for the first time. The experience can be perhaps a little nerve racking. Then Mom and Dad get the call they have been dreading:
“Your daughter fell off the swings and broke her leg…”.
“Your son was hit in the head with a baseball and is unconscious…”
“Your child fell out of the boat during sailing lessons and almost drowned…”
What do you do? Who do you call?
Microscopic Injuries
Mild traumatic brain injury is an injury to the tissues of the brain that happens at the microscopic level. Typically the axons of the brain are sheared or damaged so that they can no longer properly transmit impulses throughout the brain.
Common Diagnostic Tools
2 Important Questions
There are two questions that almost every single client asks me during our first meeting. They are questions that I think every person who has suffered a personal injury should ask their lawyer before they decide to hire them.
The two questions are:
1. How long will this take?
2. How much will I get?
The honest answer to both of these questions (at least during the initial interview) is: “I don’t know”.
Landmark Ruling Regarding Loss of Housekeeping Capacity
In the 1991 decision of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in Fobel v. Dean, the court confirmed that loss of housekeeping capacity has value and an injured plaintiff is entitled to be compensated for the loss of that capacity.
Nova Scotia Confirms Claims for Loss of Housekeeping
In 1998, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal confirmed that the loss of housekeeping capacity is a separate and distinct head of pecuniary damages and must be compensated for accordingly. In Carter v. Anderson, Justice Roscoe stated:
Last week I had the pleasure of golfing in the Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia’s 18th annual 18 Holes for Hope Golf tournament.
Brain Injury Awareness Month
The tournament is one of BIANS’s major fundraisers and I was happy to be part of the organizing committee.The tournament is held in June every year as part of Brain Injury Awareness month.
Last week the Alberta Court of Appeal released its decision in Morrow v. Zhang.
Alberta introduced legislation placing a “cap” of $4000.00 on the compensation that persons who suffered a “minor injury” were entitled to receive. The plaintiff’s Morrow and Pedersen appealed the cap claiming that it infringed their rights under Section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The trial judge ruled that, were it not for the “minor injury” cap, the plaintiffs would have been entitled to non-pecuniary damages in excess of the $4,000.00 cap. The trial judge also found that the distinction in the legislation between people that had suffered a minor injury and other injured victims resulted in substantive inequality resulting in an unequal distribution on financial benefits.
Okay, lawyers have a bad reputation.
In most public opinion polls we rank just above used car salesman and below politicians when it comes to trust.
I am proud to be a lawyer. I think being able to help people when they are most in need is one of the most important jobs in the world.
