Building Relationships — An interview with Mark Lyons

Mark Lyons started his career 25 years ago at a law firm in Ontario, working for insurance companies — “on the other side of the barricade,” as he puts it. “There is something fundamentally unsatisfying about that,” he says. “Your greatest victory is getting somebody to settle for less than they should get.” So when the opportunity arose to start working with David Klein and help people who had been victims of car accidents get fair compensation, Lyons took it and has never looked back.

Two decades later, with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, Klein Lyons is well established and highly sought after. At any given time, Lyons and his team handle approximately 300 cases. “Never too many that you can’t know the people and the details of each case and give them the individual attention they need,” he says.

It’s this personal attention that defines the firm’s relationship with its clients. When asked to name the one thing that sets Klein Lyons apart, Lyons doesn’t hesitate. “It’s the service to the client,” he says. “We offer a very high level of service. We have a team working on each case, including a lawyer, a case manager and legal support, and we go to great lengths to keep clients informed and involved as members of our team.”

“There’s no better feeling than helping someone achieve something that they cannot achieve on their own,” Lyons adds. “People who go alone against the insurance companies are at a massive disadvantage.”

Indeed, a 1999 study by the Insurance Research Council found that the settlement figure was, on average, 3½ times higher for claimants represented by lawyers.

That is why Lyons’ advice for those injured in a car accident is to speak to a lawyer as soon as possible. “It’s like building a house,” he says. “You can have the greatest roofer in the world, but if you don’t build the proper foundation, your house is not going to stand. If you want to achieve a fair result, the lawyer has to get involved as early as possible and ensure the right things are done and the wrong things are not done.”

Lyons is proud of the strong reputation Klein Lyons has built in its 20-year history. Most of all, the relationships his team has developed with clients remain the cornerstone of the firm’s work.

“We see people at a very difficult time in their lives,” Lyons explains. “They’re vulnerable, under a great deal of stress, and we’re their lifeline. We respect that, and we understand our responsibility towards them. Ultimately, it’s about the quality of the relationship with the client — if you don’t have that, you really have nothing.”

harbourview rehabilitation — a klein lyons professional resource

One of the important professional resources Klein Lyons relies on is Harbourview Rehabilitation. The Harbourview staff are mobility experts whose job is get you back to your normal routine as soon as possible after an accident. Occupational therapists Russell McNeil, Dominic Shew and Paul Pakulak specialize in functional capacity evaluations (one- or two-day assessments to see what a person can and cannot do) and cost-of-care assessments (finding out how much care will cost over a period of time). Kinesiologist Basil Dimou specializes in human kinetics, exercise therapy and job-site assessments and ergonomics.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, occupational therapists (OTs) and kinesiologists can help determine your limitations and help you overcome them, as well as help you make necessary adjustments to get you back on track.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, occupational therapists (OTs) and kinesiologists can determine your limitations and help you overcome them, as well as help you make necessary adjustments to get you back on track.

What an occupational therapist does depends on the nature of the injuries and what the OT is asked to do, says Shew. For example, if a person were involved in a motor vehicle accident, an OT would do case management, which includes home visits and monitoring rehabilitation and medical appointments, as well as helping with transportation or anything else the person is having difficulty with. An OT might also suggest assistive aids such as a raised toilet seat in the home if the person has trouble bending or a scooter if the person has trouble walking.

Another aspect of the Harbourview team’s work is providing evidence in a court of law if called upon. Most injury claims, however, says Pakulak, are settled before they ever reach the courtroom. Out of the 25 to 30 trials in his schedule each year, only about 6 to 10 actually go ahead. While appearing in court can be stressful for accident victims, it isn’t so stressful for Pakulak “because of the way we prepare our work and because of the time and effort that we put into doing thorough work,” he says, adding that anything he writes in his report he feels comfortable defending in court.

MacNeil and Dimou use a new technology that MacNeil himself invented, FAB (functional assessment of biomechanics), in their assessments. FAB relies on a series of lightweight wireless inertia sensors strapped on to various parts of a person’s body to track movement in real time. FAB technology allows rehabilitation staff to review movement at a later date as well, which means it could be used in courts to provide graphic evidence of the effect of certain injuries on a person’s mobility.

Whether you’ve been injured at home, on the job or on the road, the rehab team at Harbourview can get you back to as normal a routine as possible as soon as possible. Contact them at 604-951-4281.

Harbourview Rehabilitation is located at 114-9547, 152nd Street in Surrey, BC. To find out more about FAB, visit http://www.biosyn.ca/.

New Class Action Lawsuit in the Works

Klein Lyons is seeking to certify a class action lawsuit filed earlier this year against Donjoy Inc. and affiliated companies on behalf of Canadians injured by pain pumps used after shoulder surgery.

The manufacturers of these pumps marketed them to physicians as safe and effective for use after surgery, says lawyer Doug Lennox from Klein Lyons’ Toronto office. However, while they had tested the safety of the pain pumps when injected into the surrounding muscle tissue, they failed to consider the impact of the use of their products when injected directly into the shoulder joint space. A pain pump injects a sustained dose of anaesthetic solution into this cavity. The solution kills the cells that help the body to repair and form new cartilage.

The statement of claim alleges that Donjoy Inc. failed to ensure that their products were safe and effective and failed to adequately communicate the serious risk of injury associated with the devices. Specifically, the pain pumps have been linked to a serious adverse reaction known as chondrolysis, a painful and debilitating condition that entails loss of cartilage and premature destruction of the joint surface and can result in functional disability.

Symptoms of chondrolysis include pain, loss of range of motion, loss of strength, and sensations of popping, grinding and clicking in the joint. Symptoms of chondrolysis include pain, loss of range of motion, loss of strength, and sensations of popping, grinding and clicking in the joint. Treatment options for the condition are limited and invasive. In some cases, doctors recommend shoulder replacement surgery or shoulder resurfacing surgery to alleviate pain and restore limited function.

The case was filed in Saskatchewan, where the two lead plaintiffs live but, if certified, could include anyone from across Canada who’s affected. Lennox hopes that the certification hearing will take place in the fall and that it will allow the case to move to trial as a class action.

Both lead plaintiffs underwent shoulder surgery in which Donjoy pain pumps were used, and both have developed chondrolysis, which has caused them to suffer from chronic pain and impaired mobility.

“They had what they thought was minor surgery,” says Lennox, “and it spiraled into this complication that may affect them for the rest of their lives.”

Klein Lyons is working to obtain compensation for those affected. As Lennox points out, some of them may not understand their options. “Before these pain pumps, chondrolysis was a rare condition,” he says. “In fact, many doctors had never even seen it. And even now there may still be doctors who aren’t aware of it. We are concerned that there may be people out there who have used these devices and are experiencing problems after surgery, but they don’t have the information.”

ARRIVE ALIVE

HOV Lanes — Getting You There Faster

Do you suffer from a condition called HOV envy? The affliction affects lone drivers who find themselves wishing that they had another passenger or two in the car, just like those carpoolers who zoom along past them in the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane.

HOV lanes are designed to move a greater number of people than a regular traffic lane by encouraging carpooling and transit use. They save commuters travel time and help manage congestion by making the best use of our highways.

Over 130 HOV programs, totaling 4,000 kilometres in HOV lanes, operate in more than 30 North American cities. In Canada, there are HOV lanes in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

It’s All About High Occupancy

On provincial highways, HOV lanes are reserved for vehicles carrying at least two people in any of the following passenger vehicles: cars, minivans, motorcycles, pickup trucks, taxis and limousines. Buses of all types can use an HOV lane at any time, regardless of the number of occupants. A large white diamond symbol on the pavement and a rectangular black-and-white road sign identify HOV Lanes. A small black-on-white icon shows how many passengers are required.

Another type of HOV lane is the bus lane, indicated by a white diamond symbol next to a bus icon. Only buses, vanpools (vehicles with six or more occupants) and sometimes cyclists are permitted in the bus lane. Signage indicates if the bus lane is in effect only during peak traffic periods.

Those Tricky Turns

The difficult thing about HOV and bus lanes is that you may find yourself in one when you make a normal turn onto a street. In this situation, it’s best to move into the general-purpose lane as soon as it is safe to do so. Similarly, to turn right from a road with a curbside HOV or bus lane, cross the broken line to enter the designated lane when it is safe to do so, before making your turn.

Turning from a general-purpose lane across a bus lane in which nearby buses are stopped for passenger pick-up and unload is sometimes necessary but brings major risk. To make the turn safely, drive at a reasonable speed, watch for distracted pedestrians and signal in advance to give other drivers lots of warning about your intention to change lanes.

It’s the Law

To legally use HOV and bus lanes, you need the required minimum number of vehicle occupants. You should also know how to operate a vehicle safely in both city and freeway HOV lanes. Law enforcement agencies in British Columbia take the occupancy rules very seriously and give violators a $98 fine and two penalty points.

Download all our newsletters at www.kleinlyons.com/newsletter

Forward this to a friend

---

Copyright © Klein Lyons 2008