Resources & FAQ

Personal injury is an area of law that deals primarily with negligence in tort law. Personal injury law is comprised of different subsections of law, including:

• medical or health care malpractice or negligence
• motor vehicle accidents
• occupier’s liability
• slip and fall, product liability
• long-term disability
• wrongful death

Please visit our Expertise page for more information regarding the subsections of personal injury law.

Depending on the nature of your claim, there are a number of issues to be assessed. Broadly, a claim will involve three elements: (1) liability, (2) causation, and (3) damages.

Feel free to contact a member of our firm to assist you in understanding how your situation fits within these categories.

Generally, there are no costs to our clients throughout the course of litigation. Our firm carries the cost of litigation and any disbursements. When your matter resolves either through settlement or at trial, our firm takes a portion of the settlement for fees and disbursements. Our lawyers will explain the retainer and fee arrangements clearly at the initial consultation.

Litigation is a long process and every case is different. There are common stages to all Ontario personal injury actions, including:

• Starting a lawsuit (issuing a Statement of Claim) – this must be done within two years of the date of the incident.
• Examinations for Discovery – this generally occurs within about a year of the commencement of the lawsuit.
• Mediation – this generally occurs within about a year of the Examinations for Discovery.
• Pre-Trial Conference – this can occur within about a year of the Mediation.
• Trial – this can occur anywhere from 3 to 5 years after the lawsuit has been started.

A claim can settle at any point throughout this timeline.

If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury you may be entitled to damages for pain and suffering, loss of income and cost of past and future care, to name a few. This varies from case to case and depends on a number of factors. Our lawyers will explain what you may be entitled to in your initial consultation.

Medical malpractice is the area of law dealing with negligent professional conduct of health care providers including doctors, nurses, hospitals, dentists etc. If you, or someone you know, was injured or killed as a result of medical treatment, you may have a claim for medical malpractice.

You have two years in Ontario within which to bring a lawsuit for a personal injury claim. It is best to contact a lawyer early to ensure that proper steps are taken and that deadlines are not missed. You do not have to retain a lawyer right away, but it can be helpful for you to learn about your legal rights early.

Many of our staff speak multiple languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Farsi and Portuguese. If we do not speak your language, we will find a translator to help communicate.

We focus on a number of areas within personal injury litigation. Our specializations lie primarily within:

• medical malpractice/negligence
• motor vehicle litigation
• slip and falls
• occupier’s liability
• wrongful deaths
• product liability
• long-term disability

Our lawyers and law clerks are pleased to meet with potential clients to learn more about their situation and to discuss legal rights and obligations. We use this information in combination with medical records to determine the issues in question and to assess the injuries. Our in-house medical consultant provides our firm with the medical expertise to assist our legal professionals in properly assessing our clients’ injuries and to help advocate for them.

Our firm focuses on all areas of plaintiff-side personal injury law and has a diverse team of lawyers who have the experience to assess and handle most types of claims. While no two cases are the same, chances are we have handled a similar case to yours.

If you have any questions about what we do, and whether we can help with your legal issues, please give us a call as soon as you can for a free consultation.

Our team will ensure the best possible result for each client, whether that comes from a settlement or from a trial. If a client’s case cannot be fairly resolved through the negotiation process, at mediation or otherwise, our lawyers will advocate for fair compensation at trial. Gluckstein Lawyers has tried cases before judges, juries, arbitrators and administrative panels around Ontario.

Yes, many of our lawyers have been recognized as Certified Specialists in Civil Litigation by the Law Society of Ontario.

Gluckstein Lawyers has been recognized as a Top 10 Personal Injury Boutique by Canadian Lawyer, LEXPERT ranked, and by Best Lawyers in Canada.  Further, our lawyers have received awards including the King Clancy Humanitarian Award, the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame Award, and the LEXPERT Zenith Award.

Dianne Henderson is a Registered Nurse and our in-house medical consultant. Gluckstein Lawyers’ priority is to ensure that our clients get the best treatment possible in order to maximize their recovery. Our in-house medical consultant is vital in the process as she is available to provide medical insight to our lawyers as well as advocating for, and coordinating with, the best medical care for our clients.

Our Gluckstein lawyers regularly speak and present on substantive and topical issues relating to personal injury law, insurance law and advocacy generally, drawing directly on their wealth of experience.

Gluckstein Lawyers supports a number of different non-profit and charitable groups, including:

• Ability Online
• Parasport Ontario
• Ontario Brain Injury Association
• Brain Injury Association of Peel and Halton
• Canadian Brain Injury Coalition
• Brain Injury Association of Toronto
• Peel Helmets on Kids Project
• Brain Injury Society of Toronto
• Spinal Cord Injury Ontario
• W.A.V.E.
• Neurological Rehabilitation Institute
• the Pro Bono Health Law Advocacy Program

Gluckstein Lawyers frequently publishes articles on legal topics of interest for the general public, our clients and other lawyers.

Clients who have suffered Personal Injuries or illness are usually under great financial and emotional stress. We understand that legal fees are the last thing that they want to think about. In the majority of matters, we do not ask our clients to provide any upfront fees. We receive payment only when your case has settled, or you have been awarded money at trial. At your free initial consultation, you will be fully informed by our lawyers about our legal fees.

Our firm will work to advocate for you for related-issues, even after the case has settled. We consider our relationships with our clients to last longer than just the span of their personal injury claims. If issues arise that we cannot assist with, we will work with our clients to ensure that we find someone who can.

Typically, in Ontario, you have two years from the day which the injury occurred, or the day you discovered that the injury had occurred, to bring a lawsuit for a personal injury claim.  In the case of a birth or perinatal injury, the limitation period does not start until the child reaches the age of majority, which in Ontario is 18 years old. The limitation period can be delayed even further if, when the child reaches the age of majority, he or she remains legally “incapable” of commencing litigation because of a physical, mental, or psychological condition.  In this case, the limitation period does not begin to run until a Litigation Guardian is appointed for the purposes of the lawsuit.

It is best to contact a lawyer early to ensure that proper steps are taken and that deadlines are not missed.  You do not have to retain a lawyer right away, but it can be helpful to learn about your legal rights early.

Our lawyers will use a combination of resources to determine what happened in the context of a birth or perinatal injury.  We will start the investigative process by obtaining the medical records and by gathering information from our clients. We will then seek out the most appropriate medical and non-medical experts to interpret and provide opinions and expertise as to whether there was a breach of the standard of care, whether that breach caused the injuries suffered, and the extent of the injuries suffered.  Throughout the litigation process, we will receive further evidence as to what happened through the exchange of documents between parties and through the Examination for Discovery process.

Generally, there are no costs to our clients throughout the course of litigation. Our firm carries the cost of litigation and any disbursements. When your matter is resolved either through settlement or at trial, our firm will take a portion of the settlement for our fees and disbursements. Our lawyers will explain the retainer and fee arrangements clearly at the initial consultation.