FM & ME/CFS Legal Research

FM-CFS Canada’s research project:

Objective: To lower patients’ legal costs.
Objective: To help more patients and lawyers win their cases, to advance case law.
Strategy: Identify the information lawyers find helpful, organise for easy comparison.
Invite Pro Bono law students to do the research, with lawyers to oversee them.
Organise and share the research freely.

What this legal research is, and isn’t:

A review of FM & ME/CFS cases to record selected facts and opinions. This comparative data can help assess what works and what does not. Note, there are many aspects of the cases not being measured. The research saves lawyers from doing the research over and over. A lawyer is beginning to review it to write a summary. We’ll be adding research from more provinces, more areas of law.

The Cases Researched:

The research applied questions to every case. The observations may help, they may not.
The research information will be published as PDF booklets, each focussed on a domain of law.

Canada Pension Plan – Part 1
Canada Pension Plan – Part 2
Canada Pension Plan – Part 3

Ontario insurance case law

British Columbia law 

Links:

Legal Resources, Government Info, Non-Government.

• The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
  CanLII makes primary sources of Canadian law accessible for free, funded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
  
• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
• Federal Disability Tax Credits, etc.
• Federal T2201 Disability Tax Credit Certificate 
• CPP – Pension Appeals Board
• Disability Vocational Rehabilitation Program
• A Physician’s Guide to Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits
• CTV: W-Five: how the insurance industry denies, denies, denies
• Dateline article on how insurance companies misuse doctors to their own ends
• Persons with Disabilities, Federal site
  
• The Access to Justice Network (ACJNet)
  
• PovNet – a variety of resources
• ARCH Disability Law Centre
• The Internet Law Library (US site)Selected FM & ME/CFS cases:
• Supreme Court of Canada, Fidler v. Sun Life
• Supreme Court of Canada, Bracklow v. Bracklow
• Supreme Court of Canada, Nova Scotia v Donald Martin
• Ont. Labour law: Landmark decision against Honda
• Govt. Quebec v. Syndicat des professionnelles
• Fibromyalgia Long Term Disability – Case studyWritings By Lawyers familiar with FM & ME/CFS cases:
• Disability Law Guide – FAQ style
  
• Chronic Illnesses From an Employee’s Perspective
  
• Article – Disability insurance in Ontario
• Strategies, Approaches and Considerations for a Statement of Claim
• Managing the Plaintiff’s Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Case
• A Layman’s Guide to ICBC Part 7 Benefits
• Disability Insurance follow-up – strategies
• Choosing a Lawyer
• Expert Witnesses
• What are the usual steps or procedures in a lawsuit?
• Not every court decision can be appealed. Which ones can?
• Insurance company Activity Reports