Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice Lawyer – Toronto

Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto – Daniel Michaelson is the founder of Michaelson Law, a boutique personal injury practice in North York, Toronto. He represents seriously and catastrophically injured people and grieving families across Ontario, and he assesses, builds, negotiates, and argues each case.

Year Called to the Bar: 2008

Before founding Michaelson Law, Daniel spent close to two decades – first as an associate, then as a partner – at a prominent Ontario personal injury and medical negligence firm. He left to build something deliberately smaller: a practice that takes on fewer files so that the senior lawyer at the first meeting is the same one standing up in court.

His conviction is straightforward. Seriously injured people deserve an advocate willing to do the meticulous, unglamorous work of reconstructing exactly what happened – and the trial-tested resolve to hold whoever is responsible to account for it.

Catastrophic Impairment and What It Unlocks

In Ontario accident benefits, one determination matters more than any other.

A catastrophic impairment designation raises the limits available for medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits far above what a non-catastrophic claim receives – often the difference between a few years of funded care and a lifetime of it. Regulations set the criteria, and they are measured against defined thresholds, including combined whole-person impairment ratings.

Insurers routinely contest these designations, and disputes are decided at the Licence Appeal Tribunal rather than in court. A Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto clients bring in early can shape how the medical evidence is assembled before those ratings are assessed, which is usually when the outcome is determined.

A Record You Can Look Up

Daniel’s practice has produced publicly reported, citable decisions across the Ontario courts and tribunals. Three recent matters illustrate the work.

Amin v. CAA Insurance Company

2026 CanLII 6233 · Licence Appeal Tribunal (AABS) · Counsel for the applicant

Acting for a seriously injured accident victim, Daniel established a catastrophic impairment under Ontario’s auto insurance regime – the highest-stakes determination in accident benefits law. The Tribunal accepted a combined 55% whole-person impairment over the insurer’s contested ratings, unlocking the enhanced benefits a catastrophic designation provides.

Pugliese v. Chartwell

2024 ONSC 1135 · Ontario Superior Court of Justice · Co-counsel for the plaintiffs

Daniel is co-counsel in one of eight proposed class actions arising from COVID-19 outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes. In March 2024 the court certified six of the eight actions – including the Chartwell action – to proceed as class proceedings in negligence, clearing a pivotal hurdle in one of the largest efforts to seek accountability for what happened in long-term care during the pandemic. The litigation is ongoing.

Azzopardi v. John Doe

2014 ONSC 4685 · Ontario Superior Court of Justice · Co-counsel for the plaintiff

A motorcyclist was seriously injured after being cut off by an unidentified vehicle – no contact, no witnesses. The court dismissed the insurer’s motion to cap recovery at $200,000, ruling that medical evidence of the mechanism of injury can satisfy the corroboration an unidentified-driver claim requires, and sending the case to trial.

Past results are not a guarantee of the outcome of any future case. Every matter turns on its own facts and evidence. Citations refer to publicly reported decisions and can be read in full on CanLII.

Where This Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto Appears

Daniel conducts trials, appeals, motions and administrative hearings at every level of the Ontario system – the Licence Appeal Tribunal, the Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court, and the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

In accident benefits work specifically, he has appeared at multiple catastrophic impairment hearings at the LAT, where much of an injured person’s long-term care and financial security is ultimately decided.

A Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto Serving Northern Ontario

Daniel travels to clients throughout the province – Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay, Cochrane, Kenora, Fort Frances, and across eastern Ontario, Hamilton, London and Windsor.

He acts for rural, northern and Indigenous communities that have long been underrepresented, on the view that they deserve the same calibre of senior advocacy as anyone else in the country.

A Different Route Into Litigation

Daniel’s path to law started in the humanities. He completed an Honours BA at York University, graduating cum laude with the Merit Award as the top graduating student in his history and archaeology program, before earning his LLB at Western Law.

Disciplines built on reconstructing past events from incomplete evidence turned out to be unexpectedly good preparation for civil litigation – where cases are won by rebuilding, piece by piece, a record nobody preserved with a lawsuit in mind – which is much of what a Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto actually does.

Recognition

• The Best Lawyers in Canada – Personal Injury Litigation and Products Liability (2022–2026)
• Merit Award – top graduating student, history and archaeology program, York University

Education

• LLB – University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law
• Hons. BA, cum laude – York University

Professional Memberships

• Law Society of Ontario
• The Advocates’ Society

Cases a Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto Handles

• Occupiers’ Liability
• Fire Loss & Property Damage
• Brokers’ Negligence
• Product Liability
• Catastrophic Injury
• Accident Benefits & LAT Disputes
• Slip & Fall / Occupiers’ Liability
• Medical Malpractice & Negligence
• Wrongful Death
• Long-Term & Short-Term Disability
• Long-Term Care & Class Actions
• Dog Attacks & Dog Bites
• Motor Vehicle Accidents

How a Case Moves

1. Free consultation. Tell Daniel what happened. A Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto clients speak to directly gives a straight read on whether there is a potential claim and what to expect – at no cost and in confidence.

2. Building the record. Medical records, accident and police reports, expert evidence, photos, video, schematics and witnesses. In more complex matters, Daniel attends the accident scene personally, as quickly as possible.

3. Making the claim and dealing with insurers and defendants and coordinating with treatment providers so you can focus on recovery – through negotiation, and through trial when that is what it takes.

4. Resolution. A settlement or judgment that reflects what was actually lost – the compensation, care, income and security you are entitled to.

Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer Toronto

Free, confidential consultations – no cost and no obligation.

Most personal injury, product liability and medical malpractice cases run on a contingency fee basis: no legal fees up front, and no legal fees at all unless the claim succeeds. The fee and disbursement arrangement is set out in writing before any work begins.

Phone: 416-301-2020 Email: dan@michaelsonlaw.ca

Address: 2 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 303, North York, ON M2N 5Y7 – by appointment