Darcy R. Merkur, Partner

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Email: Click here to Email

Phone: 416-868-3176

Admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2000 and Certified by the LSUC as a Specialist in Civil Litigation

 

Practice Highlights

 

Personal Injury:

Darcy handles a multitude of complex, serious personal injury cases on behalf of accident victims and their families and has had some great successes. Recently, Darcy achieved such an outstanding result on behalf of an adolescent head injury accident victim that the trial judge made a rare premium award to him and his co-counsel. In doing so, the trial judge noted that Darcy had “gained a great deal of expertise in personal injury litigation”.

Darcy's exceptional work on behalf of victims of sexual abuse was recently recognized by an Adjudicator in the Aboriginal Residential School Independent Assessment Process. In the decision, the Adjudicator wrote that, "the professionalism, advocacy and solicitor-client relationship displayed by Mr. Merkur during the course of the hearing was exemplary."

Darcy has also built a reputation as an innovator in the personal injury field. He has designed a revolutionary computer program for use in quantifying personal injury claims and his product is now available for sale through Carswell under the title “The Personal Injury Damages Calculator”. A short demonstration of the Personal Injury Damages Calculator is available here. The program can also be used to quantify the value of past and future accident benefits available under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS), such as attendant care benefits, income replacement benefits and medical and rehabilitation benefits. The program is instrumental for accurately evaluating compensation in car accident cases, slip and fall cases and other negligence cases.

Darcy passionately supports the rights of accident victims. Through his involvement as co-chair of the Brain Injury Awareness Month planning committee, he tries to help raise public awareness of the difficulties faced by head injury victims.

Class Action:

Darcy was instrumental in the recently achieved multi-billion dollar Aboriginal Residential School class action settlement -- the largest class action settlement in Canadian history.
 

Education

  • Bachelor of Commerce, McGill University (1995)
  • Bachelor of Laws, Osgoode Hall Law School (1998)

Practice Areas

  • Personal Injury
  • Class Action

Professional Activities and Affiliations

  • Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
  • The Advocates’ Society
  • American Association for Justice
  • The Canadian Bar Association
  • The Toronto Lawyers Association
  • Past Co-Chair of the Brain Injury Awareness Month Planning Committee, a committee of the Brain Injury Society of Toronto

 

 

Recent Publications

New rules on experts create headaches
Law Times, July 26, 2010

New rules governing the use of expert witnesses in the civil justice system have increased costs and caused confusion, according to lawyers who retain them.


New no-fault benefits laws provide less
Lfpress.com, June 5, 2010

According to personal injury lawyer Darcy Merkur, approximately 3% of car owners have purchased the currently available optional coverage and "it is unrealistic to think that motorists will suddenly understand the need to purchase optional coverage to properly protect themselves in the event of a motor vehicle accident."
 

Suing Big Pharma
Financial Post, May 10, 2010

Lawyer Darcy Merkur, a partner with Thomson Rogers law firm in Toronto, has filed a class action against Boehringer Ingelheim, the maker of Mirapex, which is prescribed to people who suffer from Parkinson's disease.
 

Lawyers sound alarm on insurance reform
The Lawyers Weekly, May 3, 2010

The new statutory accident benefits schedule effectively halves the payments seriously injured victims of noncatastrophic injuries will receive.

Why Ontario Motorists Will Need More Insurance
The Lawyers Weekly, April 30, 2010

Ontario’s new Statutory Accident Benefit Schedule reduces the accident benefits available to motorists covered by standard automobile insurance policies and restricts access to those benefits. It will have a negative impact on motor vehicle accident victims in Ontario.

 

IAP Compensation Calculator 2010
As part of the Residential School Class Action, victims of serious abuse may receive personal injury compensation through the Independent Assessment Process (IAP). This excel based program calculates the value of IAP claims.
February 1, 2010

 

Ontario Cuts Auto Insurance Costs by Reducing Coverage 
The Lawyers Weekly, December 18, 2009

Most car owners will have reduced basic auto insurance coverage and, as a result, many seriously injured accident victims will end up with access to significantly diluted protection.


Darcy Merkur, Repairing the Catastrophic Impairment GCS Test, Accident Benefit Reporter*, Vol. 10, Issue 2, November 2009

 

Repairing the Catastrophic Impairment Test
The Lawyers Weekly, Personal Injury Section
September 11, 2009

Head injury victims in Ontario with depressed Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores following a motor vehicle accident will no longer be denied access to the over $2,000,000 in accident benefits available to those suffering a “catastrophic impairment.”
 

Punitives and The Jury
The Litigator, Journal of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
April 2009
Discussing the law regarding punitive damage claims in personal injury and product liability lawsuits and how a personal injury lawyer may best present a punitive damage claim at trial on behalf of an accident victim.
 

Certification Not the Holy Grail Anymore
Article in the Law Times
April 6, 2009
 

New Rules Impose Seven-Hour limit on Discovery
The Lawyers Weekly, Personal Injury Section
February 6, 2009

 

Spreadsheet Software Makes Settlement Calculations a Snap
Article in The Lawyers Weekly
February 1, 2008

Darcy is the author of the Personal Injury Damages Calculator published by Carswell – click here for a guided, video demonstration.

Click here to order the 2009 version of the Personal Injury Damages Calculator (PIDC) or call Carswell directly at 416-609-3800 or
1-800-387-5164.
 

 

Recent Presentations

Darcy Merkur, Persuasive Presentation of Damages, presented to the Canadian Caucus at the American Association of Justice conference in Vancouver on July 11, 2010.  A presentation on how to effectively present damage assessments in personal injury claims.
 

Darcy Merkur, and Leonard Kunka, Overview of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule - Ontario Regulation 34/10, presented at the Navigating the New SABS: Practical Solutions Conference with Thomson, Rogers and the Toronto ABI Network on March 31, 2010

Darcy Merkur, and Richard Halpern, Ontario Proposed Auto Insurance Reforms (2010), presented at the Canadian Academy of Psychologists in Disability Assessment (CAPDA) Forum on the changes to Ontario auto insurance on January 8, 2010.

 

Darcy Merkur, Expert Witnesses - New Duties, presented at the OTLA Fall Conference - Mea Culpa: Lessons Lived & Learned on October 29, 2009.

 
Darcy R. Merkur, Quantifying and Assessing Personal Injury Damages, presented to the OTLA Women's Caucus on May 21, 2008 in Toronto.
 

Darcy R. Merkur, Complex Damages Assessments/Calculations: Technological Advances, presented at the Litigating Catastrophic Injury Claims Conference organized by the Federated Press, spring 2008.
 

Darcy R. Merkur, Computing Tort Damages in Motor Vehicle Cases, presented at the Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development CLE on Managing and Litigation Motor Vehicle Accident Claims, winter 2008
 

Darcy R. Merkur, Implications of the Residential Schools Agreement for other Mass Torts, presented at the Canadian Institute - Institutional Liability for Sexual Assault & Abuse Conference, winter 2007
 

Darcy R. Merkur, Using Cutting Edge Technology Applications to Effectively Analyze and Present Your Claim, presented at the Canadian Institute - Motor Vehicle Accident Litigation Conference, fall 2007
 

Darcy R. Merkur, L. Craig Brown, Effective Use of Technology at Trial, presented at the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association Conference, fall 2006
 

Darcy R. Merkur, Access to Aboriginal Justice through the Class Action Process, presented at the Law Society of Upper Canada - Access to Aboriginal Justice Conference, spring 2006

 

 

Recent Court Decisions

Class Action Against the Directors of Farm Mutual Financial Services Inc.

A Certification and Settlement Approval motion with respect to a class action against the directors of a bankrupt investment company that were alleged to have breached their duty to the customers of that company.  The $21.25 million settlement was approved. For details see: the reasons of Justice Perell.


Allegations of Sexual Assault By Dr. George Doodnaught at North York General Hospital

Thomson, Rogers is pleased to announce, on behalf of its clients, that an agreement has been reached with North York General Hospital to establish an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Process that will allow qualifying claimants to come forward and receive compensation in a fair and efficient manner. More...

Banerjee v. Shire Biochem Inc. et al.

In this class action lawsuit, Craig Brown and Darcy Merkur were successful in having a class action certified on behalf of users of a Parkinson's Disease drug that claim they suffered compulsive behaviour, such as compulsive gambling, as a result of using the drug.

 

Resch v. Canadian Tire
After achieving an extremely successful jury verdict of $3.5 million on behalf of an accident victim, Craig Brown and Darcy Merkur, the lawyers for the accident victim, were acknowledged by the Judge as having done a marvellous job advocating on behalf of the injured victim and his family. The Judge awarded Craig Brown and Darcy Merkur a very rare $100,000.00 costs premium for having achieved an outstanding result. An appeal by the defendants to the Ontario Court of Appeal was later marked as abandoned.
 

Haddad v. Kaitlin Group Ltd.
In this Motion for Certification, Alan Farrer and Darcy Merkur persuaded the Court that the circumstances of this misrepresentation claim warranted resolution by way of a class action. In this case, home purchasers claim damages from a developer of a Subdivision for allegedly making mispresentations about the nature of the Subdivision in its Marketing Materials. The case will now proceed as a class proceeding under the Ontario Class Proceedings Act.

Baxter v. Canada
Thomson, Rogers was the first to issue a national class action on behalf of all Aboriginal Residential School survivors throughout Canada. Lawyers Craig Brown, Alan Farrer and Darcy Merkur were involved in every step of the class action including in the negotiations that lead to the largest class action settlement in Canadian history! The settlement, valued at in excess of $4 billion, was approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Affidavit of Darcy Merkur was cited extensively in the Court’s approval of this monumental settlement.

Webb v. Weiglein
Leonard Kunka and Darcy Merkur helped a victim of a tummy tuck gone wrong receive compensation for her pain and suffering.

Britton v. O’Callaghan
Darcy Merkur successfully argued before the Ontario Court of Appeal that the more favourable Ohio substantive law applied to a car accident victim injured while a passenger in an Ontario motor vehicle being driven in Ohio.

Chisholm v. Liberty Mutual Group
Darcy Merkur appeared before the Ontario Court of Appeal regarding the issue of a drive-by shooting victim’s entitlement to statutory accident benefits under the Ontario Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS).

McIntyre v. Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services
Darcy Merkur appeared before the Ontario Court of Appeal regarding the issue of whether personal injury damages can be seized to pay an outstanding restitution order.

Abick v. Continental Insurance Co. of Canada
Craig Brown and Darcy Merkur successfully argued for disclosure of opinions given by a personal injury lawyer hired by the insurance company in a car accident case on behalf of both the insurance company and its insured.

TDL Group Limited v. Niagara
Roger Beaman and Darcy Merkur persuaded the Ontario Court of Appeal that a municipality had the right to install a median on the roadway in front of an entrance to a popular Tim Horton’s.

 

 

 Testimonials

 

Dear Mr. Merkur,

I am very happy with the settlement you recieved for me. My daughters also thank you for the contribution they received as part of the settlement. I am following up with you, to let you know how pleased I am at the outcome. I really am grateful and hope that you know how happy I am to be telling you so!

- E. Messier
 

 

 


Dear Darcy,

Thank you for all the help you provided me with during my recovery from my motorcycle accident. If it were not for you and your staff I would have been no wiser as to my legal rights and consequently financial support.

You and your staff handled my requests expeditiously and for that I'm very grateful. You were always available for informative help.

Thanks for obtaining me a final settlement with the insurance company which was far beyond what I expected.

- G. Yates

 


Mr. Merkur,

Thank you for the excellent service that you provided in handling my case against the insurance company. We want you to know that before we were referred to you, we had seen 3 other lawyers that also specialized in car accidents and they all said that I would receive a very minimum amount in settlement. You, however, were able to settle for 6 TIMES the amount that the other lawyers were predicting.

- C. Perruccio

 


Hi Darcy,

I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to you, Len, and the entire team for the exemplary services you have provided me. Your services are very commendable and are sincerely appreciated.

- V. Cayabyab

 


Dear Len and Darcy,

We want you both to know how fortunate we are to have such a fine team representing us.

The accident certainly changed my lifestyle in a hurry! However it was so much easier to deal with knowing that your firm was so involved in looking after our interests.

We thank you for
- your professional and common sense approach
- your knowledgeable and sound advice
- your excellent communication
- acheiving a fair and just settlement

Thanks again for doing such a fine job and caring so much.

- E. Chatten and R. Chatten

 

 
Dear Mr. Merkur,

I am very much pleased with the speed and result of the settlement and I thank you all for the support.

- R. Geroche

 

 
Hey Darcy,

This is S. Rajapakse whose motorcycle accident case you recently settled. I just wanted to send you a note of thanks for your work in this case. I was more than happy with the outcome and am glad to put the matter behind me. I am also pleased at how smoothly everything went...

- S. Rajapakse

 

 

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