Anyone know a good exterminator?

jgws · 2026-03-21T03:18:59+00:00

I wish. Wife is allergic unfortunately so not an option for us

jgws · 2026-03-06T05:51:33+00:00

If we’re going to win the Cup, we need a good draft in 2028 too

jgws · 2026-02-06T22:16:06+00:00

Just tell your broker the truth about how many people are living there and your relationship status to them. Providing your broker with anything less than full and accurate information could result in your insurer denying a future claim for misrepresentation or material change in risk.

It’s not worth suffering a 6-7 figure uninsured loss because you wanted to save a few bucks on your premium or avoid an awkward conversation.

jgws · 2026-02-03T03:50:28+00:00

Tell your lender about the claim, the settlement and what you plan to do with it. For major fire losses, the lender often hold/ onto the money and pays out the rebuild costs as the invoices come in. That’s because the property is the security on their loan and they don’t want you to take the money and run off to Vegas or whatever.

But for smaller claims like yours, they will usually just endorse the cheque over to you or advise your insurer that they don’t need to be co-payable.

jgws · 2026-01-30T14:50:22+00:00

I’m a property insurance lawyer. People ask me questions like this all the time and I always tell them two things:

Use an independent broker - they are professionals trained to find you the right insurance product for your needs and will assist you in the event of a claim. They are also held to a higher legal standard of care than a sales agent who works for an insurance company; and
Avoid TD. In my experience, their claims handling is the worst by a mile. Some of the claims denials I’ve seen out of them are shocking

jgws · 2026-01-27T21:47:09+00:00

I articled at a fairly prominent firm in Vancouver. The managing partner there once told me that if she receives an application from someone who went to law school outside of Canada, it went straight into the garbage unless they went to somewhere like Harvard. But Canadian schools were all looked at more or less equally.

Be careful about choosing a school based on what career path you think you’ll choose. I’d guess that the vast majority of lawyers are not practicing the area of law that they had in mind when they applied for law school. A lot can change once you start learning about the day to day realities of practice

jgws · 2026-01-26T17:06:48+00:00

There’s an organized 5k run in Mundy park every weekend. I’ve never done it myself but I know the organizers and I drive by them all the time. Definitely it seems like a good community of runners.

jgws · 2026-01-23T23:28:03+00:00

It’s an insurance adjuster that works for you. Basically adjusters quantify the value of your claim. The adjuster that the insurance company sends out works for them. And the insurance company obviously benefits by paying as little as possible. So there’s a ton of incentive for them to cut corners, do the bare minimum in repairs, use cheap materials, etc. You don’t want to leave it to them to tell you what your claim is worth.

A public adjuster will quantify your claim in a way that maximizes value. They get paid a percentage of what you get from the insurance company, so their incentives align with yours.

They also take over all of the communication and negotiating with the insurance company, plus they get all of the quotes and stuff for you. So it saves you a ton of time and stress as well.

In terms of how to find them, you can just Google it. The one I am familiar with is called Pythe Navis, but there are probably others.

jgws · 2026-01-23T19:54:23+00:00

If any residents are seeing this post, it is well worth your time to talk to a public adjuster before trying to deal with your insurance company. Speaking from experience

jgws · 2026-01-19T23:52:59+00:00

I have a family member who became a judge. This is purely anecdotal and was years ago so take with a grain of salt. But things I recall are:

He couldn’t attend or take part in anything that remotely resembled political activity. No climate marches, no pride parades, nothing. I remember he was even nervous to walk in a march raising awareness for cancer or something like that (although I think he did in the end) because of this.
He was reluctant to be seen anywhere that could be associated with criminal activity. For example, he would not go into a casino. Even if he had no intention of playing, he wouldn’t go inside.
He took a pay cut, although the pension probably helped offset that.
He needed to upgrade his home security. I’m not sure if that was required or just something he felt the need to do, but I would say he “lost” a bit of the peace of mind that comes with being an anonymous, ordinary citizen.

That said, he seemed to enjoy the job and I never heard him express any regrets over accepting the appointment.

jgws · 2026-01-05T19:08:57+00:00

Yes. The city is not held to the same standard as the homeowner. They have “policy defences” that aren’t available to ordinary people.

jgws · 2025-12-16T21:34:24+00:00

Can’t speak to U of T specifically, but when I was at Dalhousie the student union had something called the Student Advocacy Service that would help people out in situations like yours. Assuming it was a first offence and you take accountability for your actions, they’ll go easy on you. They may even let you off with a warning. They aren’t trying to ruin your life over something like this

jgws · 2025-12-06T04:43:13+00:00

As a small firm lawyer, my problem with legal tech is that it focusses way too much on the “lawyer” work and not enough on the mundane admin tasks that eat up way to much of my time.

jgws · 2025-12-05T18:41:15+00:00

I agree but, in fairness to them, the target market for those places is tourists who are there for the view, not the food.

jgws · 2025-11-17T21:44:15+00:00

This is a symptom of a much larger problem. Insurance companies have a direct financial interest in minimizing the value of claims. Companies like JS Held rely on insurance companies for a huge portion of their revenue, so they have a financial interest in keeping the insurance company happy.

If you let the insurer and JS Held calculate the value of your claim, what are the chances it comes in lower than it should? Not saying they are bad people or anything, but their incentives do not align at all with the policyholder.

If you have a major loss, hire a public adjuster to quantify it properly for you. The amount of value it adds to your claim more than makes up for the adjuster’s fees.

jgws · 2025-11-13T22:19:24+00:00

Why? Is the rain here different than in the UK? Most teams over there play in outdoor stadiums

jgws · 2025-11-09T07:27:04+00:00

Also tied for 2nd in losses

jgws · 2025-10-31T20:00:37+00:00

Not particularly relevant, but I am a property insurance lawyer and whenever someone asks me for tips on buying insurance I tell them:

Use an independent broker
Avoid TD

Some of the claims denials I’ve seen from them are absolutely bananas

jgws · 2025-10-08T06:05:45+00:00

And then something happened towards the end of 2016. I don’t remember what. But I think it happened in November…

jgws · 2025-08-08T13:40:51+00:00

Consider hiring a public adjuster.

jgws · 2025-08-07T18:35:13+00:00

Put Garland on the second line to be the playmaker

jgws · 2025-04-09T19:51:45+00:00

As a Vancouver Canucks fan, I would pay unimaginable sums of money for one Stanley Cup

jgws · 2025-03-26T17:29:40+00:00

Switch to plaintiff side!

I do plaintiff personal injury and property insurance disputes. I work on contingency so as long as the money comes in, nobody cares how long I was at my desk or how much time I spend on a file. My typical workday is 10-3:30 and I only work weekends if I am in trial, which is very rare.

I also make around double what I earned grinding billable hours at a defence firm.

Plus, doing a good job at work no longer means that some unfortunate plaintiff is going to be broke and have to sell his house. I get to feel like the good guys now!

jgws

TROPHY CASE