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Expert evidence in disability and personal injury lawsuits.
Lawyers often seek the opinions of medical experts in disability and personal injury lawsuits. The purpose of these engagements is generally to present evidence in relation to such important matters as: • the underlying cause of the plaintiff’s injuries; • the nature and extent of the plaintiff’s injuries and corresponding functional limitations, deficits or disability; • any further treatment or rehabilitation initiatives that may need to be undertaken; and • the prognosis for future recovery or symptom improvement. Although opinions on such...
read morePunitive damages explained.
Punitive damages are particularly prevalent in the USA where they are often left to the discretion of a group of citizens, a jury, who may impose them when they determine that a defendant’s conduct has been uncivilized or to deter other from acting in such an underhanded way, to improve, generally, law and order, or simply to reward the plaintiff for his financial risks in litigating and enforcing the law. Where awarded, they are an exception to the rule that damages are to compensate not to punish. The exact threshold of punitive...
read moreAggravated damages explained.
The Supreme Court of Canada decision in Fidler vs. Sun Life, released on June 29, 2006, clarified the legal principles for awarding aggravated damages in Canada. Facts of the Case Ms. Fidler was a bank receptionist who, at the age of 36, became ill and was eventually diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. She began receiving LTD benefits from Sun Life in 1991. The benefits were terminated in 1998, based to a large extent on video surveillance which Sun Life felt detailed activities inconsistent with her claim that she was...
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