Evidence - Law of Spoliation - Destruction of Evidence - Injury Matters

Injury - Accident Lawyers : Spoliation: The law of evidence is complex. One little know evidentiary principle is the legal doctrine of spoliation (it is a rule of evidence). Spoliation is the intentional destruction of evidence to affect existing or anticipated litigation. The main remedy for spoliation is the imposition of the rebuttable presumption of fact that the loss or destroyed evidence would not assist the spoliator. Intentional destruction of evidence is not an intentional tort, nor is there any duty to preserve evidence for the purposes of the law of negligence. Spoliation, as it stands now, is a evidentiary principle and not an independent tort, although the law is evolving and the Supreme Court of Canada may be set to address this issue in a recent Alberta Court of Appeal case which has been appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Marc-Nicholas Quinn, Plant Quinn Thiele LLP, Ottawa Accident - Disability Law Firm. 613-563-1131.

Judgment Obtained - Defendant Declares Bankruptcy - What Do You Do? Ottawa Accident Lawyers - www.PQTLaw.com

It sometimes happens that you obtain judgment against someone in a personal injury court action and that person is not insured and the judgment is unpaid. The defendant is unable to pay and makes an assignment into bankruptcy. What are your rights? If the person has insurance, you may be able to apply for payment from the insurer directly through certain provisions of the Insurance Act of Ontario, in addition to opposing the bankruptcy. If the person was uninsured, you have the right to oppose the defendant's bankruptcy and seek conditions on any discharge ordered. If the person - bankrupt is unable to pay 50 cents on the dollar of his debts owing, there will automatically be a conditional discharge, providing an opposition is filed. If the defendant was particularly vexatious and unnecessarily prolonged the court proceeding, you have grounds to oppose the bankruptcy and seek that there be conditions attached to any discharge such as the payment of money to the Trustee for the benefit of the creditors, who share pro rata to their proven claims, subject to the Trustee's fees being paid as a first charge. There are many grounds that may be used to oppose a bankruptcy. If the judgment obtained is based on a judicial finding of fraud, the debt owed to you will likely be exempt from discharge. Debts occasioned by fraud cannot be discharged on bankruptcy. To learn more about your rights in circumstances where a bankrupt seeks to deny you recovery of compensation, contact us at 613-563-1131 - Plant Quinn Thiele - Marc-Nicholas Quinn.

Failure to Defend Action Can Result in Default Judgment Against You - Ottawa Accident Lawyer - www.pqtlaw.com

Once a court action has been commenced, the Rules of Civil Procedure apply. Those Rules provide strict time-lines by which certain steps in the court action must be completed. For example, once served with a statement of claim (originating document that commences a court action), you have 20 days to file and serve a statement of defence. If you fail to do so, the Plaintiff can obtain a noting in default by filing a simple form in Court and then proceed to obtain Default Judgment. That Default Judgment can be set aside but there is a legal test to meet and in most and not all cases, a Justice will set aside the Default Judgment. The cost of bringing a motion seeking to set aside the Default Judgment can range from $2,500 to $15,000, depending on the complexity of the matter. The lesson learned is - once served, retain a lawyer right away to ensure that the necessary time-lines are met. Marc-Nicholas Quinn - Ottawa Injury Lawyer - 613-563-1131.