Our managing partner Joanna Sweet will be making her first appearance on AM800’s Experts On Call Radio show. She will be appearing at 11 a.m. this Saturday.
Experts On Call highlights local business leaders in Windsor, giving them a chance to discuss their business and answer questions from listeners who call in.
On Saturday, Joanna will be discussing the following topics:
- The types of cases Greg Monforton and Partners handles, including car accidents, slip and fall, and medical negligence cases
- What to do after a slip and fall on ice
- Notice periods for slip and fall cases
- Slip and falls on private property
- What happens if someone gets hit by a falling branch on your property?
- How the location of the tree impacts the case
- Do social hosts need to be concerned about guests consuming too much alcohol?
- And more
Tune in on Saturday to hear Joanna on Experts On Call!
Our firm is proud to announce that our managing partner, Joanna Sweet, has been appointed to the executive committee of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA). She is also chairing the OTLA’s Continuing Legal Education Committee.
Joanna has been with our firm since 2013 and became a partner in January of this year. She has sat on the board of the OTLA and has been involved in many submissions to the Ontario government.
Congratulations Joanna!
Fast forward to the 3:15 mark to see Joanna Sweet discussing these cases
Partner Joanna Sweet was recently interviewed by CBC News and Windsor Morning to discuss insurance coverage for personal support workers (PSW).
Sweet is currently representing two crash victims in separate lawsuits against their insurance companies. The two victims, Harry Spyridis and Raymond O’Keefe, are seeking increased compensation for the cost of hiring personal support workers. Currently, their insurance companies are offering less than minimum wage.
“Personal support workers don’t work for less than minimum wage,” Sweet said at a news conference covered by CBC News.
Both victims suffered life-altering injuries – they both have fractures in their legs, spine, pelvis, shoulder and hips. Spyridis is a retiree who lives alone and O’Keefe, who was a mechanic before his accident, lives with his wife.
O’Keefe’s wife can help with some daily tasks. “It’s not right for insurance companies to rely on family and friends to provide care,” Sweet said.
Interview on Windsor Morning
In her interview with Nav Nanwa, host of Windsor Morning, Sweet discussed the reasons why people may need personal support workers after an accident.
She noted that some crash victims need help with basic activities like getting dressed, bathing, making meals and running errands.
This care should be paid for by the liable insurance company, up to a monthly maximum at market rates. Unfortunately, Economical Insurance and Coachman Insurance are offering very low rates to her clients, despite the fact that PSW’s often charge upwards of $30 to $40 per hour.
When the insurance company does not cover these costs, victims’ remaining options are not great. They can either pay out of their own pockets or they can go without care. Another factor to remember is that victims may be unable to work, which means money is tight.
“It really impedes their ability to get better,” Sweet said.
Sweet wants insurers to end the practice of paying below-market-rates for PSWs. “These are benefits that are part of a standard automobile policy that we should all have access to,” she said.
While there is an appeals process, it can take a long time. Although Sweet has initiated lawsuits on behalf of her clients, it is going to take a long time to recover money for the care that they need.
Economical Insurance declined to comment on the situation, while Coachman has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Ontario regulates the insurance industry in the province. The FSRA’s Senior Manager of Media Relations, Russ Courtney, said regulations do not set an hourly wage. Individuals can receive a maximum of $6,000 per month, which amounts to about 420 hours of care at a rate of $14. This is less than the Ontario minimum wage of $15.50 per hour.
Courtney noted that people who hire providers who charge more than that must pay for the extra cost on their own.
Unfortunately, Sweet has heard anecdotes from other Ontario residents that are similar to the situation her clients are facing.
On Wednesday, our partner Joanna Sweet and Senior Associate Heather Colman (who also heads up our Student Program) participated in Windsor Law’s “Career Day” at Caesar’s Windsor.
Joanna and Heather spent the day promoting our firm and we were excited to meet an incredible group of up-and-coming graduates.
Yesterday we formally celebrated Dr. Joanna Sweet’s admission to partnership. Joanna and her family (husband Cory, mom Joan and dad Brian) joined our entire firm for an amazing lunch featuring wonderful food and toasted with many bottles of a vintage 2012 champagne, the year Joanna first joined Greg Monforton & Partners as an articling student.
Congratulations Joanna! We are so proud to welcome you as a partner!
The new year starts with an exciting announcement for Greg Monforton & Partners as we celebrate the admission of a new partner to the partnership.
It is with great pride that we announce Dr. Joanna Sweet’s promotion to Partner.
From the time she started with us as an articling student more than 10 years ago Joanna has consistently lived and demonstrated our firm’s values by delivering exceptional client service and providing support and mentorship within the firm. She is a true leader and we are thrilled that she has joined our partnership.
Joanna is very active in our profession through her work as a member of the board of directors of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association and a member of the Essex Law Association Bench and Bar Committee. She also frequently presents at conferences and seminars on various topics relating to injury law.
She received her law degree from the University of Windsor in 2006 and earned a doctorate in political science from Carleton University in 2012. She previously taught Constitutional Law at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.
Joanna is a passionate and intelligent advocate committed to protecting her clients’ rights and fighting to secure them the compensation and justice they deserve.
Congratulations Joanna on this much deserved honour!
In a feature story, Greg Monforton and Partners’ Senior Associate Joanna Sweet discusses her time in the PhD program at Carleton University. Sweet earned her PhD in Political Science from the university in 2012.
Sweet explains how she had opportunities to meet politicians and attend Parliament events while she worked on her PhD thesis. Her experience in the PhD program helped her develop skills she uses as a lawyer. She got many opportunities to do public speaking and present things. She also had a lot of networking opportunities.
Her graduate work has taught her how to handle complex, multi-faceted issues and come up with creative solutions.
Sweet joined our firm in 2013 and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2019.
Our senior associate Joanna Sweet is co chair of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association Spring Conference and the moderator of a panel discussion regarding the civil trial backlog and moving forward since the pandemic.
Our partner Jennifer Bezaire is a panelist. Here are Joanna and Jen in action at the conference. Joanna is seated at far left and Jen is second from the right.
Our senior associate lawyer Joanna Sweet has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA).
This is a 3-year appointment and begins in May of this year. Over the past few years Joanna has worked tirelessly as an OTLA volunteer, actively contributing to the Practice Direction Committee (where she most recently helped draft OTLA’s submissions to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario) and she is one of the co-chairs of the upcoming OTLA Spring Conference.
Joanna is a very bright, hardworking, talented lawyer and is very deserving of this appointment. We are so proud of her!
Senior associate Joanna Sweet has been invited to speak at the 4th Motor Vehicle Litigation Summit sponsored by the Law Society of Ontario. The LSO regulates, licenses and disciplines more than 55,000 lawyers and 9,000 licensed paralegals.
The annual summit will take place over the course of two days: Monday, September 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday, September 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The event will be broadcast over the internet. Participants can be eligible to receive up to eight-and-a-half substantive hours and two-and-a-half professionalism hours of Continued Professional Development (CPD) credits.
Joanna will be on a panel discussing current issues in statutory accident benefits disputes. She has represented many clients in accident benefits claims.
Other program highlights include best practices when mediating or litigating head injury cases, how to quantify income loss claims and understanding the pandemic’s effects on the future of medical treatments and assessments.
This is a tremendous honour for Joanna and we are very proud of her.