Cochrane Personal Injury Lawyers

We only charge fees if we are successful in your case, and we will never charge you back for expenses incurred in an unsuccessful case.

If you are asking this question, you should contact a personal injury lawyer. We provide free consultations with no obligation. If you think you have a situation where a personal injury lawyer might help, call us and ask!

No. Our lawyers only represent accident victims and never insurance companies.

Our personal injury lawyers do not require payment until after settlement. Then, the fees are payable out of the proceeds of the settlement. If there is no settlement, we do not charge a fee.

Our personal injury lawyers know the law and what evidence is important in your case and will fight for you. Insurance companies also know the law and what evidence is important, but they are fighting against you. Our personal injury lawyers will deal with the law and the insurance companies and let you focus on your health and treatment.

A case can take months to years to settle, depending on the severity of your injuries and the complexity of the case.

In personal injury claims, you can claim damages for the following:

• Pain and suffering;
• Loss of earning capacity, both past and future;
• Out-of-pocket expenses;
• Future cost-of-care; and
• Loss of housekeeping capacity.

If you want to sue somebody, in most cases, you have a time limit. If you do not file your lawsuit in time, your legal claim is extinguished. These time limits are set out in various statutes (laws). A law that sets down a time limit to start a claim is known as a statute of limitations. It is very important to know the time limit to start your claim. If you miss that deadline, your claim can no longer be pursued.

After a settlement, it typically takes between 4 – 6 weeks before you receive your funds.

Each lawsuit has a number of legal elements that must be assessed to determine the strength of the whole lawsuit. Our lawyers assess these elements and use the proper evidence to prove them. We will be honest and upfront with you about the strengths and weaknesses in your case.

The vast majority of cases are settled before trial. In the cases that go to trial, the plaintiff usually makes a decision to go to trial after turning down an offer to settle from the defendant. However, there are cases where the defendant does not offer sufficient money to settle the case, and the only fair way to get the compensation you deserve is to go to trial.

No! Since we work on a contingency fee that is a fixed percentage of the settlement, we do not charge you for phone calls or meetings. This means you can feel confident in picking up the phone or meeting with your lawyer without worrying about how much you are being charged.

No. We only charge a fee after we have successfully won your case. In addition, we will cover the expenses of the lawsuit along the way and claim those back as part of the settlement. You do not have to pay anything upfront.

A contingency fee refers to a fee that is payable after settlement and is calculated as a percentage of that settlement.

Yes. There can be various time limits associated with making a personal injury claim. The most common time limit is the two-year limitation period set out under the Limitations Act, RSA 2000, c L-12. This limitation period can be suspended in some cases, particularly when minors or people with a legal disability are involved. In addition, there are sometimes important notice periods where you must notify a defendant, such as a municipality, with a much shorter period.

No. Personal injury settlements are not “taxable income” for the purposes of your tax obligations. This is true even if the personal injury claim has wage loss components, and those wages would have been taxable income.

Yes. It is called contributory negligence if you are partially at fault for your injury. Your claim is reduced by the percentage of fault attributable to your fault. However, you can still make a claim against other at-fault parties.

A personal injury claim is valued by assessing the quantum of the case against the risk of no or partial liability.

The quantum of a case is based on how much pain and suffering, wage loss, out-of-pocket expenses, care costs, and housekeeping capacity have been incurred. Liability is based on the chances of success against the defendant and the chances of some liability being put back on you.

No. In fact, a very small percentage of personal injury claims go to trial. The vast majority settle somewhere along the path from commencement to trial.

Yes. Choice of counsel is a legal right. In contingency cases, when deciding you want to change lawyers, the new lawyer will obtain the legal file from the old lawyer and pay out any disbursements incurred to date. Then, upon settlement, the legal fee (usually a percentage of the settlement) will be the same whether you switched lawyers or not, and the two lawyers will work out among themselves what a fair split of that fee is based on who did what.

Settlements are binding and final, with very few exceptions. The law has developed to provide as much certainty as possible when cases are resolved. This means that a settlement is almost always final. The situations where a settlement may not be binding are those that involve fraud, duress, undue influence, or an unconscionable settlement. These situations are rare, but if you believe one of those applies to your settlement, you should contact a lawyer.

Going back to work affects your case. As wage loss is a part of your case, there is a link between how long you are off work and how much your claim is worth. However, this does not mean it hurts your case to return to work. It helps illustrate what your case is for everybody. Even if you ultimately cannot return to work, it is valuable to try to go back. If you cannot return to work, your case will be stronger if you try.

Yes. A personal injury claim does not dictate how you live your life. Our personal injury lawyers will look at how the injury affected your life when making your claim. How long you are off work will affect your claim, but the fact that you have a claim is not a deciding factor in your return-to-work journey. Your job is to go to treatment, get better, and get back to work and your regular life as soon as possible.

Personal injury claims can be complicated. We have an adversarial system in Calgary, which means the insurance company against whom you are making a claim has interests that are opposed to yours. The insurance company can use the law to its advantage to oppose your claim. Insurance companies are sophisticated litigants. A personal injury lawyer can level the playing field between you and an insurance company.

Pre-existing injuries make lawsuits more complicated and increase the need for legal help. Insurance companies will use a pre-existing injury as a defence against your claim to the full extent of the law. A personal injury lawyer can help frame the realities of a pre-existing injury to benefit your case. For example, if you have a pre-existing injury, then you are more likely to be injured in an accident than a healthy person.

If you are injured in an accident, attending to treatment is important for your health and the legal claim. Unfortunately, in situations where there are no benefits covering treatment, you might be in a position where you cannot afford it. The insurance company against whom you are making a claim can voluntarily assist with treatment, though they have no legal obligations to do so. In some circumstances, treatment can be obtained on credit, with a promise to pay the provider at the time of settlement.

A personal injury claim involves numerous steps. Along the way, the parties can settle. The first steps involve giving the defendant notice of the claim and collecting documents and witness information. If the parties cannot settle, you must file a lawsuit in court to go further. That triggers a lot of rules and obligations under the court’s rules. A case will go to trial if it is never settled.

Negligence is a cause of action that arose in common law over the years. The law of negligence requires everyone within the jurisdiction to take reasonable care and not injure their neighbours. In this context, “neighbour” means anyone who might reasonably and foreseeably be harmed by your activities. If you are driving, that includes other users of the road. If you run a business, it means people who might come onto your premises.