Darcy R. Merkur, Partner

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Email:

Phone: 416-868-3176

Admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2000

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 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 right 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
  • Co-Chair of the Brain Injury Awareness Month Planning Committee, a committee of the Brain Injury Society of Toronto

Recent Publications

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 demo.

Recent Presentations

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


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.

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


Hey Darcy,

This is Shane 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...

Shane Rajapakse
March 15, 2008

Na- Me- Res would like to say CHI-MIIGWETCH! - (Thank you in Ojibway)

To Thomson Rogers:

(Alan Farrer, Craig Brown, Darcy Merkur, Marcia Schmitt)

Through your generous donation at this time of year, Na- Me- Res is able to provide much needed items to over 222 clients we serve through our Programs and Services offered at our Men’s shelter—14 Vaughan Road; our Youth Shelter- 26 Vaughan Road, as well as the clients in our Outreach Services Department assisted on the streets. Your donation goes along way in providing Christmas cheer to those less fortunate.

Glad Tidings and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year!!!!!


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