This blog post was created by Ontario disability lawyer Mark Yazdani. For further information, visit Mark’s disability law information site: www.disabledlaw.ca.

The Kevin Drew Lumsden v. The Government of Manitoba disability court decision was released by Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba on September 7, 2007.

Kevin Lumsdun, a 45 year old physiotherapy aide was employed by the Manitoba Development Centre, a special care home for mentally and physically challenged residents.  His job duties included assisting in physical therapy programs under the supervision of a physiotherapist and carrying out various physical activity programs as well as some administrative duties. His job was physically demanding but he enjoyed his work and he was proficient at it.

Mr. Lumsden was insured through his employment by a Long Term Disability policy issued by the Provincial Government and managed and adjudicated by Great-West Life. Read the rest of this entry »

This blog post is created by disability lawyer Mark Yazdani. For further information, visit Mark’s disability law information site: www.disabledlaw.ca.

The Brown v. Mutual Life Assurance Co. of Canada court decision was released by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton on August 8, 2005.

Darryl Brown was working as truck driver for Smokey Coal mine in Grand Cache Alberta. He was required to drive over rough surfaces, sometimes almost falling out of his seat.

In September 1988, Mr. Brown had a “runaway” incident. His truck brakes failed and the truck went down a 600 ft. ramp. He suddenly felt a “big snap” on the right side of his lower back when the truck crashed into the bottom of a second ramp. From this point forward, he started experiencing back problems. Read the rest of this entry »

The following blog post was created by Toronto disability lawyer Mark Yazdani. Visit Mark’s disability law information website: www.DisabledLaw.ca.

The court commented that Manulife had good reason to seriously question whether Ms. Milner was disabled. For example, it had surveillance which showed Ms. Milner moving in an apparently relaxed and. normal way as she walked, stood and sat in various situations as well as driving her car, carrying parcels from her car to her house, sewing and so on. All of these activities appeared to contradict the severe subjective symptoms Ms. Milner had reported to her doctors.

The court also pointed to the fact that Ms. Milner, since becoming ill, had written and defended a thesis for her master’s degree in nursing. Manulife argued that the capacity of someone to write such a document was evidence that Ms. Milner had work capacity. However, the court found that Ms. Milner had obtained substantial assistance from friends to complete her thesis. Read the rest of this entry »

This blog post was created by Ontario disability lawyer Mark Yazdani. For further information, visit the disability law information site: www.disabledlaw.ca.

The Milner v. Manufacturers Life Insurance Company court case was released by the B.C. Supreme Court on November 28, 2005.

In September 2001, Cindy Milner, age 45, was hired as a manager at a residential care facility for the elderly. She was responsible for managing nurses, care aids and related staff and ensuring that the facility had all the necessary supplies. In late October, she contracted pneumonia and was off work for one week. When she returned to work, Ms. Milner described having strange headaches, being unbelievably tired, and being forgetful and “foggy”. She left her job for good three weeks later from a multitude of symptoms later diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Before developing chronic fatigue syndrome, Ms. Milner stated she had a physically active lifestyle with sporadic involvement in a number of sports such as cycling, swimming, cross-country skiing, wind surfing, scuba diving and ice skating. Read the rest of this entry »