Najma Rashid

Najma Rashid is a partner at Howard Yegendorf & Associates. Her practice is devoted exclusively to personal injury litigation, including motor vehicle accident claims, SABS disputes before the License Appeal Tribunal, and LTD claims. She was a director on the OTLA Board of Directors for 4 years, and was the Chair of the Long-Term Disability Section in 2020/21.

In addition to OTLA, Najma is a member of the Advocates Society, as well as a supporter of organizations such as REACH Canada, Probono Ontario, the Ontario Brain Injury Association and the Canadian Paraplegic Association.

Kassburg v. Sun Life Assurance Company 2014 ONCA 922

Released December 29, 2014 | Decision Kassburg imposes on insurers a duty to communicate a clear and unequivocal denial of a claim in order to trigger the limitation period under the Limitations Act 2002.  It also ruled that LTD contracts are not “business agreements.” Ms. Kassburg stopped working due to disability in October 2007, submitted her LTD claim in April 2008 and was denied benefits …

Social Host Liability: How to Avoid the Naughty List and Ensure Guests Arrive Alive

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Picture this: a holiday get-together at a friend’s house. The tree sparkles, beautifully wrapped gifts lay artfully strewn below. The food is delicious, the drinks plentiful, the laughter infectious. Sometime after midnight, an impaired guest drives away and gets into an accident resulting, unfortunately, in catastrophic injuries. When the holidays approach, lawyers often think of three words: social …

Attendant Care Moves into the Digital Age

In recent years, the Ontario legislature has slowly eroded accident victims’ access to Attendant Care benefits available under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS). Since 2010, an accident victim must either hire a professional caregiver or prove that his/her attendant has incurred an economic loss – such as lost income – while providing attendant care. Both requirements are fraught with complications. When attendant care in …

Further Erosion of Plaintiffs’ Compensation Effective August 1, 2015

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa delivers the provincial budget as Premier Kathleen Wynne looks on at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Thursday, April 23, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Dealing another blow to Plaintiffs, on August 1, 2015, the amendments to Ontario Regulation 461/96, Court Proceedings for Automobile Accidents that Occur on or After November 1, 1996, came into effect. These amendments provide for an …

Top Five Highlights from Westerhof v. Gee Estate

On March 26, 2015, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Westerhof v. Gee Estate 2015 ONCA 206. Heard at the same time as the recently-released Moore v. Getahun, Westerhof has been championed by members of the Plaintiffs’ bar as a “big win for common sense” in the area of non-expert opinion evidence. As was the case with Getahun, Westerhof also attracted a …

ATVs, accident benefits and lawsuits: Timing is everything!

The use of off-road recreational vehicles such as ATVs for fun and recreation has increased dramatically over the years.  It is also not unusual to see such vehicles on public roadways, and for these vehicles to be driven by young people including minors.   Over the years, recreational culture has given rise to an increasing number of rollovers, crashes, and alcohol-related incidents involving ATVs and other …