Canadian Lawyer

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 45 the defence side, who will thoroughly research, inspect and investigate the claimant's life in any way they can. Apart from the real surveillance that insurance companies often employ, they will also use a plaintiff 's social media profiles to show inconsistency in their claims. "I call social media free surveil- lance," Leto says. The problem, Leto says, is that SSD is inconsistent. The sufferer has good days and bad days. "If there's a picture on a vacation or rock climbing or a social event, then it's possible that the smile that they have in that selfie will be misconstrued as ability," she says. "They'll use the photograph taken on a good day to suggest a lack of credibility." Insurance companies will also use evi- dence of pre-existing psychiatric conditions to argue that the claimant is a "crumbling skull," personal-injury parlance for someone who would have developed the SSD from other life events, regardless of the event in question. Leto, who practises primarily in motor vehicle accidents, slips and falls and long-term disability, says she focuses main- ly on lay witnesses; friends and family who can describe what the plaintiff was like before and after the event. "You definitely need expert evidence that's not going to be replaced but it does, in these types of cases, turn a great deal on the lay witness evidence to corroborate the problems," she says. Adding insult to injury, Gluckstein says there is a severe societal impact where those suffering from chronic pain who cannot win com- pensation have, until recent- ly, also been prescribed opi- oids to deal with the pain. "The origin could be from a minor car accident and then you're left with an addicted person to opi- oids because of the way the system neglected them and just said, 'Here, take another pill,'" he says. "I'm sure a lot of these opioid suicides and overdoses can be linked to an original pain management issue that got out of con- trol," he says. "And some of those would be reflective of neglected injury cases, workers' comp cases, slip and fall cases, disability cases that were neglected through their system, either through insurance or through the public system." L E G A L R E P O R T "The origin could be from a minor car accident and then you're left with an addicted person to opioids because of the way the system neglected them and just said, 'Here, take another pill.'" Charles Gluckstein, Gluckstein Lawyers MONEY IS ONLY PART OF THE SOLUTION. 1 888 800 4966 inquiries@bpfin.com bridgepoint.ca BridgePoint Financial is Canada's MFBEJOHlitigation finance firm. Our team of legal and finance experts have assisted hundreds of law firms manage the current challenges and opportunities within the personal injury litigation market. OUR SERVICES INCLUDE: (;3(57$&&(66 70 352*5$0 'ISBURSEMENT FINANCING BANK CREDIT RENEGOTIATIONS PRACTICE TRANSITION ADVISORY SERVICES FILE ACQUISITION FINANCING 35(6(77/(0(17),1$1&,1*)253/$,17,))6 CALL US TODAY. Untitled-6 1 2019-01-17 12:54 PM

• Cover