James R. Howie

James R. Howie is a founding partner at Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP and one of Ontario’s most experienced personal injury lawyers, having practised since his call to the Ontario Bar in 1980. He co-founded the firm on January 1, 2000, alongside Neil Sacks and Michael Henry, after the three partners left Thomson Rogers together. Their founding purpose was clear from the start: to provide quality legal service to personal injury victims using efficient, modern methods and the highest standards of professional advocacy.

Called to the Ontario Bar: 1980

Jim’s is a personal injury lawyer, accident benefits lawyer, medical malpractice lawyer, and long-term disability lawyer, acting exclusively on behalf of victims. Over his four-decade career, he has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and various administrative tribunals, including the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. He has been formally recognized and qualified as an expert in personal injury law by the Ontario Superior Court itself – a formal judicial acknowledgment of the depth of his knowledge in the field.

Jim has represented clients across the full spectrum of serious and catastrophic injury: teenagers rendered quadriplegic in car crashes, children with traumatic brain injuries, families who lost loved ones in motor vehicle collisions, and Canadians injured in the United States while wintering there. His approach is consistent across all of them. He takes a hard-nosed approach to building the evidentiary record and pursuing the outcome the case warrants, whether that outcome requires years of preparation followed by trial, or a well-constructed settlement that genuinely reflects the client’s long-term needs. When Rory – a car accident victim rendered a quadriplegic – needed to live at home rather than in an institution, Jim engineered a settlement that made that possible, including funding for round-the-clock care.

Cross-Border and Snowbird Accident Expertise

One of the more distinctive aspects of Jim’s practice is his expertise in cross-border motor vehicle accidents involving Canadian snowbirds and travellers injured in the United States. He is a member of Cross Border Confidence and has written and lectured extensively on the legal issues that arise when an accident crosses provincial or international boundaries – questions of jurisdiction, which jurisdiction’s law applies, how Canadian accident benefits interact with American tort claims, and how to maximize recovery for injured Canadians in US court systems. His published articles on the topic include analysis of jurisdiction over cross-border accidents, what Canadian snowbirds need to know about motor vehicle accidents in the US, and how Ontario courts handle American truck drivers involved in accidents in Ontario.

Practice Areas

• Motor vehicle accidents – car, truck, bus, motorcycle, and transport collisions lawyer
• Accident benefits claims (SABS) – disputes and cut-offs lawyer
• Medical malpractice – physician and hospital negligence lawyer
• Long-term and short-term disability claims lawyer
• Catastrophic injury – brain, spinal cord, and severe orthopaedic injuries lawyer
• Wrongful death and fatal accident claims lawyer
• Cross-border and snowbird motor vehicle accident claims lawyer
• Pedestrian and cycling accident claims lawyer
• Truck and transport accident litigation lawyer

Notable Results

Past results are not predictive of future outcomes. Each case requires individual legal advice.

• $11.5 Million – Teen suffered severe head injury, rendered a quadriplegic in crash
• $10.32 Million – Teen severely injured in a car accident
• $5.6 Million – Child with Pervasive Developmental Disorder struck by car, suffered head injury
• $3.1 Million – Personal trainer suffered catastrophic injuries after being hit by car
• $2 Million – Fast food owner/chef suffered brain injury after being struck by car
• $2 Million – 15-year-old suffered spinal cord injury jumping in swimming pool
• $1.55 Million – 20-year-old passenger sustained brain injury in a car accident

Awards and Recognition

• 2018 Plaintiff’s Lawyer of the Year – Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
• Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation – Law Society of Ontario
• Qualified Expert in Personal Injury Law – Ontario Superior Court (formal judicial recognition)
• Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory – Consistently Recommended in Personal Injury (1997–2015); Most Frequently Recommended (2016)
• Annual Peer-Reviewed Canadian Legal Directory – Personal Injury Litigation, since 2007
• National Post personal injury lawyers recognition – annually since the list’s inception

Speaking Engagements and Publications

Jim has chaired and lectured frequently at personal injury programs across Ontario, including:

• OTLA Roundtable Discussions and Webinars (moderator and speaker)
• OTLA Webinar: Updated Catastrophic Impairment Criteria
• “The Post-Concussion Syndrome: Medical Debate and Legal Discussion” (May 2018)
• Diagnosing Traumatic Brain Injury, Osgoode Professional Development CLE (April 2015)
• Canadian Defence Lawyers Conference (April 2016)
• Top 10 Mistakes in Your First Few Years of Practice, OTLA New Lawyers Division (September 2013)
• Why Does My Head Hurt? Acquired Brain Injury Litigation and Medicine (May 2013)
• Qualification of Family Doctor by Plaintiff Lawyer, Canadian Defence Lawyers (March 2012)
• Accessing Funding for Medical Rehabilitation, HSH Accident Benefits Seminar (March 2012)
• Auto insurance lectures at Osgoode Hall Law School (regular contributor)
• Published: “Medical Expert Evidence – What’s Old, What’s New,” The Lawyers Weekly, Vol. 17, No. 33 (1998)

Jim has also presented and written for Canadian Defence Lawyers, Lexpert, and Insight publications, and appeared on The Disability Channel discussing changes to the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, and on City News discussing the dangers of falling concrete from Toronto bridges (January 2017).

Professional Memberships and Associations

• Advocates’ Society – Former Director; Current Member (1985 – Present)
• Medico-Legal Society of Toronto – Council Member (2000 – Present)
• American Association for Justice – Member (1984 – Present)
• Toronto Lawyers Association – Past President (2002); Member (2002 – Present)
• Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
• Ontario Bar Association
• Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America (APITLA) – Member
• Cross Border Confidence – Member
• Brain Injury Association of Toronto – Former Director (1992 – 1994)

Community Involvement

• “Out of the Rough” Golf Tournament – Founder and Chair (2013–2018), raising over $100,000 annually for the St. Michael’s Hospital Head Injury Clinic
• Brain Injury Society of Toronto – Board of Directors
• Advocates Society – Board of Directors
• Medico-Legal Society of Toronto – Member of Council
• Brain Injury Association of Toronto – Former Director

Education

• Called to the Ontario Bar: 1980
• LLB – Queen’s University, Faculty of Law (1978)
• BA (Honours, Dean’s List) – University of Western Ontario (1975)