Yoni Silberman

The appellant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and suffered an intracranial brain contusion.

The insurer placed her in the Minor Injury Guideline (MIG) under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS), limiting her benefits to $3,500.

The Licence Appeal Tribunal upheld this decision, finding that the definition of 'minor injury' includes all contusions, including brain contusions.

On appeal, the Divisional Court found the Tribunal erred in law by focusing on the degree of impairment rather than the nature of the injury.

The court held that an intracranial brain contusion is not a 'minor injury' under the SABS, allowed the appeal, and ordered the appellant removed from the MIG.

The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) brought a motion for leave to intervene as a friend of the Court in an appeal concerning the interpretation of 'minor injury' under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that OTLA's proposed submissions overlapped substantially with the appellant's factum and that the perspective and interests were adequately represented without OTLA's involvement.

The court concluded that OTLA was unlikely to make a useful contribution to the resolution of the appeal.

The defendant daycare brought a motion for summary judgment in a negligence action after a three-year-old child broke his arm falling from a play structure.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the issues of supervision adequacy, staff training, and policy implementation required significant credibility assessments and a highly contextual legal analysis, making the case unsuitable for resolution via summary judgment.

The court emphasized the difficulty of assessing credibility on a paper record, particularly when the injured child could not provide evidence, and declined to order a mini-trial.

Following the plaintiff's success in resisting an appeal from a Master's order, the parties made written submissions on costs.

The plaintiff sought costs on a substantial indemnity scale or, alternatively, on a partial indemnity scale.

The court found no reason to award costs on an elevated scale and fixed the plaintiff's costs on a partial indemnity basis at $4,000 inclusive of disbursements and taxes.