At Jasmine Daya & Co., we regularly handle accident benefits claims on behalf of severely injured individuals. Recently, Jasmine Daya and Daniel Klein acted on behalf of a catastrophically injured claimant, who was in a coma following a serious motor vehicle accident, through his litigation guardian. Litigation guardians for severely injured claimants When someone has suffered a brain injury or other catastrophic trauma, they are often unable to make their own decisions with respect to their legal claim. In these cases, a "litigation guardian" is appointed to manage the claim and provide instructions to lawyers on behalf of the injured claimant. In this case, the claimant's wife was appointed as his litigation guardian, and was handling all matter relating to his claim for benefits. Background of the case The claimant's previous lawyers had attempted on several occasions to settle his claim for benefits. They were in the process of negotiating a partial settlement with the insurer, and had exchanged preliminary settlement documents, which the previous lawyers accepted on May 6, 2016. However, the claimant's litigation guardian did not instruct her lawyers to accept the offer of settlement, and decided to terminate her relationship with previous counsel. She retained Jasmine Daya & Co. to represent her husband going forward, and immediately confirmed that she had not instructed her previous lawyers to accept the proposed settlement. Successful arbitration on this preliminary issue As soon as Ms. Daya was retained by the claimant's litigation guardian on his behalf, she successfully brought a motion to re-open their file. The insurer, however, attempted to enforce the terms of the unsigned settlement on the claimant. At a preliminary hearing, Ms. Daya and Mr. Klein successfully argued that the claimant had not accepted the insurer's offer to settle. The arbitrator agreed that there had been no binding agreement between the parties: the claimant had not signed a Settlement Disclosure Notice, nor had she instructed her lawyers to accept the partial settlement. The full decision can be read here. Toronto accident benefits lawyers for severely injured claimants At Jasmine Daya & Co., our accident benefits lawyers regularly represent severely injured claimants at arbitration. We understand the significance of your claim for compensation, and will work to achieve a full and fair settlement of your claims. To discuss your accident benefits or motor vehicle accident claim with one of our skilled personal injury lawyers, contact us online, or call our office to make an appointment at 416-967-9100.