The Centennial Building (Former Whitby Courthouse)

The main area of practice of  Miskin law offices is civil litigation, which is basically law suits involving claims for money.  Murray Miskin  has over 30 years of experience acting for parties claiming in civil cases brought in the Ontario Courts.  Our work is mainly in the Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice in bringing civil claims for money damages.  We do not handle Small Claims Court cases. Litigation is an expensive process and so if you hire us to defend a law suit you will be billed regularly at hourly rates. Law suits of under $10,000 are handled by the Small Claims Court where lawyers are not necessary. In 2010 that increased to $25,000.  In our experience small claims are not economically handled with lawyers involved and we do not generally act in Small Claims Court. Often insurance is available to cover claims that may be brought against you and we will, when consulted, look into that. If you wish to bring a claim we usually bill when we recover money in the claim.  Most of our clients are regular people, without a lot of money, who can not afford the luxury of litigation. Sometimes litigation is a necessity. When it is appropriate we will advise you  to settle and how to keep costs under control during the process. While we are a small community firm, most of our litigation is fought against the largest law firms in Canada and we do not hesitate to take on a difficult claim we believe to be reasonable and just.
CONTINGENCY FEES AND CLASS ACTIONS:
More often than defending law suits we act on behalf of individuals and small business people suing to collect money due to them. Often we can arrange to collect our fee from the proceeds of the law suit when it is complete.  In personal injury cases we normally do not charge a fee until a successful recovery is made on our clients’ behalf.  This means anyone with a good personal injury claim with significant damages can come to us and not be restricted by lack of financial resources.  Sometimes this approach may not be appropriate in risky cases where we do not believe success is assured. Usually we will advise clients not to proceed with high risk claims which may end up costing more than they can achieve. We ask clients to pay the expenses of a law suit we bring on their behalf through retainers from time to time as needed and if they are able to pay.  For large cases involving many people with a claim against one company or individual who has harmed many or the maker of a particular harmful product such as the drugs Vioxx, Bextra, Yaz, Yasmin or Asbestos injury we work exclusively on contingency fee.  These cases involve all risk and expenses being with the lawyer who bears the risk of carrying a speculative case.  For this type of case known as Mass Tort Litigation  we are now charging contingency fees of one third of recovery which we share with other lawyers working with us.  Contingency fees are now legal in Ontario and regulated by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Feel free to arrange a no cost and no obligation appointment to discuss litigation matters before you proceed.  Our first free consultation will be for as much time as necessary to understand and provide an opinion on the case and is not necessarily the usual first half hour as many lawyers offer.  We are frequently consulted by individuals including lawyers for second opinions on law suits which are in progress or to review settlement proposals.
SETTLEMENT OR TRIAL:
Usually it is better to settle on the best terms rather than go through the stress, expense and often years it takes to get a case to trial.  Trial results are uncertain and there is much risk involved especially where there is a jury.  Court rules related to costs and offers make the risk much higher to the point where few cases actually go to trial.  When it appears appropriate we encourage settlement through negotiation or mediation.  When settlement can not be achieved we consider the alternative process of arbitration which is usually cheaper, faster and less uncertain than court. Some cases just can not settle out of court and when that happens, we, unlike some litigation  lawyers, are not afraid to take a case to trial even if it is risky.  Insurers and their lawyers know that we do not back down when claims are denied and usually we can find a reasonable settlement. Our  good reputation is based on years of litigation including considerable trial experience, positive client results, knowledge of the court system and the persistence which does lead us sometimes to trial and to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Murray H. Miskin
Murray Miskin is widely recognized as a Canadian pioneer in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution both for mediation and arbitration.  He is recognized by the legal profession nationally through a leadership role in the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), and for his expertise in the fields of Insurance law, Civil Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. Murray served for two years as Chair of the CBA’s National Sections Council and was on the CBA Board of Directors and Finance Committee from 2007-2009.  Through his long involvement with the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now called the American Association for Justice or AAJ) Murray is well known among U.S. personal injury lawyers. He interacts regularly with the AAJ leadership and is regularly contacted for advice on Canadian law and referrals from American lawyers. He also belongs to the Inter American Bar Association (IABA) where he also works with lawyers in Central and South America.

Michelle E. Brown

Our Associate lawyer Michelle Brown is a member of AAJ and is active in the AAJ’s minority caucus. Our lawyers belong to, and are both active in the Canadian Bar Association and its provincial branch the Ontario Bar Association, the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, the Durham Region Law Association and the Advocates Society.

Put our experience and network of contacts to work for you.
If you wish to consult us on a litigation matter please call the office to arrange a telephone initial case review and then schedule an appointment for a free first meeting to discuss your case in detail.

Murray H. Miskin B.A., LL.B

Personal Injury lawyers for Canada based in Whitby and Peterborough Ontario, Canada who also work on Ontario real estate transactions.

Learn about who makes ADR Works / Miskin Law Offices tick:

http://www.adrworks.com/about/