Nicholas Sampson

The plaintiff attended the emergency department with symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and facial weakness, and a referral note from his family doctor requesting to rule out a stroke.

The defendant emergency physician diagnosed peripheral vertigo and Bell's Palsy, and discharged the plaintiff without conducting a gait assessment or consulting a neurologist.

The plaintiff returned the next day with a severe basilar artery occlusion, resulting in catastrophic long-term disabilities.

The court found the defendant breached the standard of care and that, but for this breach, the plaintiff would have received timely recanalization treatment with a successful outcome.

The defendant's request for a 25% discount on the agreed damages was dismissed.

Peter Ekstein was catastrophically injured as a pedestrian.

He had a personal auto policy with Chubb and was the owner/CEO of a company with an auto policy (including optional enhanced benefits and OPCF-47 endorsement) with Continental Casualty Company (CNA).

Chubb began paying statutory accident benefits (SABS) but served a priority notice on CNA.

An arbitrator found CNA to be the priority insurer, deeming Ekstein a "named insured" under the CNA policy due to "regular use" provisions.

CNA appealed.

The Superior Court found the arbitrator erred in deeming Ekstein a "named insured" under the CNA policy, as he never actually used company vehicles.

However, due to the OPCF-47 endorsement, CNA was still obligated to pay both mandatory and optional SABS benefits to Ekstein.

The court clarified that the OPCF-47 endorsement does not alter priority rules between insurers, entitling CNA to reimbursement from Chubb for the mandatory SABS benefits and associated administration costs.

The plaintiff's production motion was dismissed without prejudice, conditional on exhausting remedies under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPP).

The plaintiff re-brought the motion without exhausting these appeal rights.

The court dismissed the motion again, without prejudice, and awarded partial indemnity costs of $1,000.00 to the defendant, finding the requested costs of $2,900.00 excessive given the motion's simplicity and prior arguments on similar issues.

The appellants appealed a jury verdict in a medical malpractice action arising from the death of Kerry Samms from cancer.

The jury found that the defendants, including the family physician Dr. Wilraad Lottering, had not fallen below the standard of care.

The appellants challenged the trial judge's jury instructions on two grounds: (1) the standard of care instruction, arguing the jury was improperly directed to rely solely on expert evidence and could not apply common sense to determine whether standard medical practices were themselves negligent; and (2) the error of judgment instruction, arguing it was inappropriate in a case involving administrative failures rather than clinical judgment.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that when read contextually, the jury instructions properly conveyed the applicable legal principles and that the jury would have understood they could apply common sense to assess whether standard practices were negligent.

The plaintiff, Massimo Gargari, brought a motion seeking the production of a class register from 1983-1984 in a historical abuse case, arguing that former classmates might be witnesses to alleged abuse.

The defendant, Toronto Catholic District School Board, opposed the request, primarily citing prohibitions under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPP).

The court dismissed the plaintiff's motion as premature, ruling that the plaintiff had not exhausted the statutory remedies available under the MFIPP for the disclosure of personal information, which includes a specific procedure and an appeal process.

The court emphasized the need to protect the privacy of individuals, particularly those who were children at the time the records were created.

The plaintiff, a golf professional, brought a medical malpractice action against the defendant orthopedic surgeon regarding an elective total wrist fusion surgery.

The plaintiff alleged that the defendant failed to obtain informed consent by not disclosing alternative, less drastic surgical options that would have preserved some wrist mobility, which was essential for his livelihood.

The court found that the defendant breached his duty of disclosure by failing to explore the plaintiff's specific needs, inadequately describing the surgery, and failing to discuss viable alternative procedures like a four-corner fusion or proximal row carpectomy.

The court concluded that both the subjective and objective tests for causation were met, as neither the plaintiff nor a reasonable person in his position would have consented to a total wrist fusion if properly informed.

The plaintiff was awarded $20,000 in general damages and $40,000 for past loss of income.