Canadian Lawyer - sample

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A Y 2 0 1 7 37 Wagner sees the same trend in East- ern Canada, saying his clients have their rights "nipped away on a year-by- year basis." "The insurance bureau seems to be taking every opportunity to demonize the plaintiff side of the practice with the consequence of a political appetite for erosion of rights," he says. Singer says that, over the last decade or so, things such as the reduction of what is available on the tort side with the increasing deductible and the pre- judgment interest rates having dropped under the Courts of Justice Act are exam- ples of how the government, through the Insurance Bureau of Canada, has "put up more and more roadblocks for accident victims getting things like attendant care coverage and even income benefits, mak- ing it more challenging by requiring more and more information." Another problem personal injury lawyers are facing is that the courts are way too slow, especially in light of Jordan. Now, their clients face an access to justice problem, Singer notes, because the insur- ance companies can afford to "weather the storm" whereas his clients are in need of funds and can't support themselves while they wait. Wagner says clients get frustrated, which leads to premature settlements that are less than what they are rightfully entitled to. He sees it in the jurisdictions where he practises — Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. "Adjunct to long trials and the long delays to get to trial is the cost of financ- ing the out-of-pocket disbursements, especially in large cases," Wagner says. "With these long delays, it puts an immense amount of financial pressure upon law firms who are financing clients' disbursements." "I understand why it's important to get criminal trials done quickly, but what I don't understand is why we don't have enough judges in courtrooms to handle both issues," Howe says. "The shortage of judicial resources is a sig- nificant problem. The feds really have to hire some more judges and build some more courtrooms." Despite both new and historical chal- lenges, the diversity of personal injury litigation seems to be expanding, says Wagner. He notes that there is "more appetite" for medical malpractice cases, and class actions that deal with injury- style cases are becoming more prevalent as are cases related to abuse. "Likely you'll see further emergence into human rights and something along those lines, I would predict, in the upcoming years," he adds. Wagner also sees further progress with specialization and sub- specialization within the plaintiff 's practice, saying it's a trend that's continuing to emerge where lawyers become even more specialized. "We see the autonomous vehicle is coming; we don't know when, but obviously that will change the land- scape of personal injury actions and insurance," Singer says. But he's not too concerned with how he and his fellow personal injury lawyers will cope. "We're a resourceful bunch," he says. "I'm sure we'll be able to adapt." Wagners_CL_May_17.indd 1 2017-04-18 9:26 AM

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