Law Times

Page 4 December 4, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com In the LSUC's notice of ap- plication, the regulator alleged that D'Alimonte has been in the arrangement with 1-800-Ask- Gary since October 2015. The notice of application said the service's ads are "improper insofar as the Ontario public is advised inaccurately that Ask- Gary will provide medical as well as legal assistance . . ." The provincial regulator is also claiming D'Alimonte has improper marketing on his web- site, onguardforthee.com. "The website marketing is improper insofar as the re- spondent advertises aggressive services, describes past success without stating that past results are not necessarily indicative of future results, advertises special- ization in the absence of certifi- cation from the law society, and markets the provision of second opinions," the notice of applica- tion said. The website also contains misleading information about the number of lawyers who prac- tice in Ontario with the firm and their experience, as well as the number and location of offices the firm has, the LSUC said. D'Alimonte, who was called to the bar in 2013, was listed as Florida-based Merricks Law Group's Canadian managing lawyer on its website as recently as last year. The website used to say that it had a "continental net- work of lawyers" and had repre- sented "thousands of people and their families across both Can- ada and the United States." Bohm says the law society has clearly expressed concern about misleading and confusing ad- vertising. "Clearly, this is a foreign jurisdiction marketing idea that doesn't work within the regula- tory framework we have," says Bohm. An LSUC spokeswoman says that when a hearing panel finds a lawyer has engaged in profes- sional misconduct, they can face penalties from a reprimand or suspension to a revocation of their licence. Darryl Singer, a lawyer repre- senting D'Alimonte and Mer- ricks Law Group, says that the proceeding is at the earliest stage of discipline with a proceeding management conference set for Jan. 15, 2018. "Mr. D'Alimonte intends to make full answer and defence to the proceedings launched against him and has a meritori- ous defence on the merits," he says. Singer adds that none of the allegations against D'Alimonte has been proven. LT result to decide Sopher was not giving valid answers. "Rather than assigning any validity to a number of larger, more sophisticated tests which were apparently administered and which did not show any significant scoring invalid- ity, Dr. Lawson chose instead to jump to the conclusion that he should completely invalidate many findings of significant impairment(s) to Mr. Sopher's functioning," Snider wrote in the decision. Consequently, Lawson as- signed zeros to certain test re- sults, which resulted in a very low impairment rating, Snider found. "I find all of the above to be very disturbing and conclude that Dr. Lawson was not con- ducting himself properly as an expert assessor of Mr. Sopher but was, instead, actively pro- moting the insurer's case and chose to take the first shortcut he could see to conclude that Mr. Sopher was not catastrophically impaired," Snider said. Wendy Moore Mandel, a partner with Thomson Rog- ers LLP who was not involved in the case, says a cap of $2,000 plus HST for assessments in Statutory Accident Benefits cases has put pressure on ex- perts to review less background documentation or use others to perform parts of the assessment to save costs. This means experts hired by insurers often look for a quick way of meeting the insurer's goal of the denial of a benefit, she says. "What it does is it leaves experts open to greater cross- examination, because they're doing a less fulsome job than they would otherwise do if the costs of the assessment were not capped at the $2,000 plus HST," she says. Mandel says the cap pushes parties to retain experts who have done this type of work be- fore. But the problem with that is that they will likely be dealing with experts who routinely look at one side or another and come with a certain bias, she says. The matter is one of the last cases making their way through FSCO, as a new tribunal body — the Licence Appeal Tribunal — started hearing accident benefit disputes last year. Plaintiff lawyers have ex- pressed concerns over how the new tribunal has functioned so far, saying its procedures are being followed so strictly that it may be impacting the fairness of hearings. Nisker says the finding in Sopher's matter may have been different had it been heard at the LAT, where the length of cross- examination might be severely curtailed. Nestor Kostyniuk, the lawyer representing Primmum, says his client has not decided yet wheth- er to appeal the FSCO decision. He says the decision only fo- cused on the physical injury, but the insurer says part of the cur- rent overall package is what So- pher had before the motorcycle accident. "There were problems be- fore [and] there are clearly more problems since," he says. "Therefore, when you split out the additional from the motorcycle accident, it should not have been found to be cata- strophic." Lawson could not be reached for comment. LT Continued from page 1 Cap puts pressure on experts to review less background Singled out for prosecution? Continued from page 1 NEWS NEWS NEWS Visit gpllm.law.utoronto.ca Questions? gpllm@utoronto.ca Apply today. ONE YEAR | PART-TIME | FOR LAWYERS AND BUSINESS LEADERS Master the Law. Canada's leading law school offers a graduate degree in four unique streams: Business Law Canadian Law in a Global Context Innovation, Law and Technology Law of Leadership Untitled-6 1 2017-07-27 2:46 PM

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