There is a mountain of information out there online covering lawsuit settlement loans. These specialized loans – there to provide financial security during the period of waiting for a lawsuit to be settled – are a common part of the legal and financial system now. But there still is not much accurate information telling interested parties the pros and cons of requesting lawsuit lending from a company, nor out of the many hundreds of reasons why people might choose to seek lawsuit loans, what the top reasons are for actually doing so.

This informative blog post will address the most commonly seen types of personal injury lawsuits in Canada to explain why those plaintiffs involved with a personal injury case may seek to access lawsuit funding. While some of the personal injury types listed will be familiar, others are likely to be more surprising.

Read on to see Canada’s most common forms of personal injury lawsuits.

Car Accidents

Victims of car accidents are by far the largest group of clients on the books of settlement lenders. The car accident will fit within the larger ‘personal injury’ umbrella, yet even within this scope, it tends to stand out.

According to Canada’s Ministry of Transport, rear-end collisions, side-on collisions and ‘single motor vehicle crashes’ are the most common forms of car crashes on Canadian roads. While the highest number of fatalities due to car crashes took place in areas where high-speed limits are common, including rural streets, the major source of personal injuries was on urban streets; in towns and cities.

Plaintiffs of car accidents are those who have been hurt in a vehicle collision that was not their fault. Perhaps they were travelling to work, going to pick up the kids or simply out for a Sunday drive; whenever you have been injured by a driver and the responsibility is not yours, you can launch a lawsuit and fund it via personal injury loans.

The severity of the injury sustained in a car crash can vary wildly. From a whip clash complaint that causes dull pain and a loss a motion, emotional and/or psychological damage as well as a loss of earnings for a relatively short period, to a life-altering injury that requires prolonged or lifelong care. All of these possibilities can cause a need for financial help and thus an application for a lawsuit settlement loan while a plaintiff is awaiting their case result.

So why are car accidents among the main reasons for requesting a settlement loan in Canada? The truth is the nature of the event. Because cars are so ubiquitous – our most popular form of travel by a distance – the likelihood of being injured in a car, as opposed to, say, a train, are far larger. This is one reason.

Another is that car crashes can take a long time to resolve and the need for financial assistance is, therefore, more likely to occur. While personal injury claims on average take between 18 and 30 months to reach a settlement in Canada, the complexity of car crashes can sometimes increase this length. When the car crash and injury are more severe and the amount being claimed for higher, this average time can be lengthened further. The longer a claim goes on the higher the need for a lawsuit settlement loan becomes. Of course, there are exceptions to this. In cases where the defendant has used drink or drugs, the length of the case is likely shorter.

Product Liability

Product liability is one of the top five reasons that people visit lawsuit settlement loan companies to request financial help, though it comes to a distance behind personal injuries.

Product liability lawsuits are launched after the plaintiff has suffered a personal injury. But the way the responsibility or fault is proved is what differentiates product liability from a personal injury claim. Rather than having to prove that the defendant makes a mistake resulting in injury, the product liability suit requires the plaintiff to show that;

• The product being used was in some way defective
• That the plaintiff was using the product in the way it is intended to be used
• And that the plaintiff suffered an injury as a result of the product defect

By proving these, the plaintiff shows that the purveyor of the product was acting negligently. In Ontario, product liability is based on liability in contract and fault-based liability, which includes negligence. According to the Supreme Court of Canadian Law, negligence is conduct that creates “an objectively unreasonable risk of harm,” and can include intended or unintended actions. For an action not to be deemed negligible, the court must see a “standard of care that would be expected of an ordinary, reasonable and prudent person in the same circumstances.”

There have been many infamous product defect cases over the years, including the McDonald’s coffee case, launched by Stella Liebeck after suffering third-degree burns, or the slew of more recent lawsuits against Samsung due to phones allegedly exploding.

However, because a company’s brand is based on the quality and safety of their product, they will fight hard to make sure their products are not considered unsafe and that the company is not thought to be publicly negligent. This can extend the court procedure and settlement loans are often then sought.

Some examples of the types of product defect causes are:

• Vehicles with airbags that can be set off incorrectly, causing crashes that lead to injury or death
• Batches of foods that cause vomiting or illness
• Electric blankets that ignite when turned on overnight

Premises Liability

Premises liability is another one of the reasons that clients require lawsuit lending services from lawsuit settlement loan companies. Despite its lesser-known status, it continues to be one of the most common forms of personal injury. When applying for settlement loans, the lawsuit lender will appraise the applicant’s case in much the same way as any other. But remember; the number one factor that settlement lenders in Ontario will take into account when deciding whether to give the settlement loan is the likelihood of the plaintiff is likely to win the case.

The legal requirements for a premises liability case are similar to product liability. In both cases, the plaintiff needs to provide that the defendant acted negligently and thus caused an injury to the plaintiff. However, the difference with premises liability is that the case will intend to demonstrate negligence with the premises; a building, area or property owned by the defendant.

Here are several common premises liability cases that, depending on the circumstances, can lead to a plaintiff searching for a lawsuit settlement loan:

• Slip, trip and fall – If a parking lot owner leaves a pothole or hazardous obstacle on their property which causes someone to slip and fall. Falls from icy surfaces can also be considered within the slip and fall range, whereby a property owner neglects to clear their walkways of this hazard.
• Fires – The property owner did not provide the suitable and correct means to put out a fire, such as a fire extinguisher. Or the property owner did not install functional smoke alarms or fire detection systems.
• Amusement park accidents – A poorly maintained amuse ride causes injury or even death to one of the paying customers.
• Swimming pool accidents – The property owner does not sufficiently protect inexperienced swimmers from the deep end of the pool, resulting in an injury or death to a swimming pool user.
• Dog bites – The property owner has not properly put away their dog, resulting in the dog attacking a guest in the property causing bodily harm

But within these reasons, the burden of proof still lies on the plaintiff. For example, in a lawsuit charge whereby a person is injured after falling slipping on ice, the judge will question whether there were warning signs posted about the possibility of icy surfaces or whether the plaintiff was doing something that prevented them from noticing the hazard, like using their cell phone. This is an important point to remember when applying for personal injury loans.

Assault

The unfortunate truth of life is that at one point or another, most Canadians will either be a victim of crime or know someone who is. According to Statistics Canada, there were 1.9 million police-reported Criminal Code incidents (not including traffic incidents) in 2017. There was also a five percent jump in the “overall volume and severity of violent crime” from 2016 to 2017, suggesting the likelihood of individuals becoming victims of violence was on the rise. Though we would like to believe violence solves nothing, unfortunately, it can easily occur.

In the Canadian system of law, assault is one of the most basic violent offenses and one that is set out in Section 265 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Though assault can be considered to take place without any person laying a finer on another, for the purposes of the personal injury process, we will assume that violence takes place. The loose and most basic definition of the assault law is as follows:

One person applies force to another person without their consent, directly or indirectly.

Assault is a wide definition that encompasses several violent crimes for which a person can be taken to court and have a lawsuit opened against them. Some of the most common assault charges in Canada are:

• Simple assault: Ranging from a small shove to a fight, the simple assault is not often part of a personal injury claim
• Assault with a weapon: Causing bodily harm by either carrying or threatening a person with a weapon to intimidate or causing bodily harm with the weapon
• Assault causing bodily harm: The use of physical force that does cause a physical injury, from scratches or cuts to broken bones
• Aggravated assault: A severe assault that often causes permanent injury, has a life-changing impact or is even life-threatening to the victim

As the severity of the assault charge increases, the time for a lawsuit to be carried out can also lengthen. As lawsuits cost money, the application for lawsuit loans will be an option for those victims of assault.

Wrongful Death

In the most unfortunate of circumstances, the death of a loved one can be the result of an accident, negligence or malpractice. Though the need for legal representation and the potential financial necessity of a lawsuit settlement loan is the last thing on the mind of the survivors’ minds at that time, it may be necessary at some stage. It is for this reason that approaching lawsuit financing companies should be considered.

Under Canadian law, each province governs its own definition of wrongful death. For Ontario, a wrongful death lawsuit must prove that the victim’s death was the result of a deliberate or negligent act of another person, not the victim’s actions.

Common causes of wrongful death often seen in Canadian courts are:

• Medical malpractice
• Workplace accidents
• Nursing home neglect
• Motorcycle accidents

Additionally, the lawsuit must prove that the victim’s death has caused measurable loss or damages to the survivors. These are often financial losses and can include:

• Loss of income that the deceased person would have otherwise provided
• Funeral expenses
• Medical expenses for the care of the deceased prior to or after death
• Loss of income via emotional distress making survivor unable to work

The decision to launch a wrongful death lawsuit is not easy. However, finding quality and trusted lawsuit lender is one of the best ways to reduce stress during an emotionally-fraught process.

A Recap: What is Lawsuit Lending?

This blog has covered five of the most common forms of personal injuries that are seen in personal injury lawsuits in Canada. But this is not an exhaustive list, and these are not the only reasons a plaintiff may seek our help from lawsuit settlement loan companies. Sports injuries, sickness owing to pollution and a lack of informed consent are all potential other causes which result in a person’s need for personal injury loans.

Just remember that lawsuit loans should only be applied for if the outcome of the court case is almost certain to be positive for the plaintiff. Because these loans can have steep interest rates, it is important to understand the timeframe around the lawsuit and know that, as mentioned earlier, the average time for a personal injury lawsuit to reach a decision is 18 to 30 months.