Morris + Stoltz + Evans LLP

Jillian Evans

evans@mselaw.ca

Direct line: 416.862.8171

Jillian has committed nearly twenty years to improving and increasing Canadians’ access to safe and effective health care.  She has established herself as a trusted and respected advocate for patients and their families in litigation and related proceedings against physicians, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists, dentists and other health sector organizations, and has extensive experience in medical injuries arising from:

• surgical error
• orthopedic injuries
• transient ischemic attacks
• neurological injury
• birthing injuries
• late cancer diagnosis
• misread imaging
• pathology error
• medication overdose
• prescription dispensing error
• anesthesia injuries
• laparoscopic surgery

Jillian has been voted by her peers as a leading lawyer in the area of medical negligence in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (2019,2020, 2021 and 2022), and is listed in the 2021 and 2022 Best Lawyers guide. She also sits on the College of Midwives of Ontario’s Registration and Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committees. Her clients and co-counsel benefit from her responsiveness and perseverance, as well as from her ability to skillfully distill complex medical information in order to best advance her clients’ interests. Jillian’s familiarity with all facets of the health care system also equips her to assist health care consumers on matters involving consent, privacy and access to care.

Jillian represents her clients in motions, trials and appeals at all levels of court, as well as in hearings, inquests and proceedings before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Office of the Chief Coroner, the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board and the Health Services Appeal and Review Board.

As the past Chair of the Medical Malpractice Group of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association and an instructor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Jillian is a frequent lecturer and speaker on issues relating to patient rights, advocacy and the intersections between law and medicine for Osgoode’s School of Professional Development, the Ontario Bar Association, the Medico-Legal Society of Toronto and other legal and health sector stakeholders.

Most recently, Jillian has joined the federal Social Security Tribunal as part time member and adjudicator.

Jillian has developed a nuanced appreciation for the often overlapping legal, social, financial and personal needs of individuals and families affected by medical negligence.  She uses her skills in both advocacy and negotiation to achieve the best possible results for her clients, in or out of the courtroom.  A devoted proponent of our publicly funded health care system, Jillian’s long history of community involvement with organizations like Planned Parenthood Toronto, the John Howard Society of Ontario, Street Health Community Nursing and the Massey Centre for Women reflects her commitment to safeguarding and championing universal access to health care.

HIGHLIGHTED CASES*

• Rodrigues v. Altourshi (2022) – Jillian successfully moved to extend the deadline for serving a defendant physician in another jurisdiction.
• Spry v Southlake Regional Health Centre (2022) – Jillian successfully represented the plaintiff in this medical malpractice case in her efforts to bring a second defendant emergency room physician into the action more than two years after the attendance at issue.
• Vandenakker v. Yen (2021) – Jillian represented the plaintiff in resisting the defendant physician’s motion to have her action dismissed on the basis of an allegedly missed limitation period.
• Cooper v. Toronto (2020) – Jillian successfully moved to have Toronto Hydro, a corporation wholly owned by the existing defendant City of Toronto, added to the action on the basis of misnomer.
• Eichinger v. Vaidyanathan (2020): Jillian successfully preserved her client’s right to reference ‘similar fact evidence’ in her Statement of Claim in this action involving brachial plexus injuries sustained by the plaintiff during her birth.
• Campagiorni v. Bednar (2020): Jillian successfully defeated the defendant orthopedic surgeon’s motion for summary judgment on behalf of the plaintiff patient.
• Cooper v. Toronto (2019): Jillian successfully appealed a lower court’s refusal to add a new defendant to an existing action, arguing on the plaintiffs’ behalf that the proposed defendant’s involvement in the matters at issue was not reasonably discoverable any earlier.
• Simons v. Canada (2018): Jillian Evans and Lori Stoltz successfully resisted the Correctional Service of Canada’s motion for access to the applicants’ experts’ privileged file contents in this Charter litigation involving federal prisoners’ access to health care and harm reduction services.
• Way v. Ahmad (2017):  As trial counsel, Jillian obtained judgment for the family of a man who passed away following surgery due to untreated sleep apnea.
• C.P. v. Y.H. (2017):  Jillian successfully appealed a decision of the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee of the CPSO, with the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board finding that the investigation into C.P.’s complaint had been inadequate and returning it to the Committee for further investigation.
• Rycroft v. Chen (2017): Jillian succeeded at trial on behalf of the family of a woman who passed away following an endoscopic procedure.
• Oakley v. Guirguis (2014) : Jillian defeated the defendant physician’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ lawsuit on the grounds of an expiry of the limitation period, successfully arguing that Ms. Oakley’s statute of limitations did not start to run until she first learned of the alleged error.
• Frazer v. Haukioja (2008): Jillian was co-counsel at trial for a man who developed avascular necrosis and psychiatric injuries after an ankle fracture was left untreated by the defendant emergency physician. Damages of $1.8 million were awarded to the Plaintiffs at trial, which were upheld on appeal.
• Geddes v. Bloom (2008): Jillian was counsel for the plaintiff at trial in an action against a radiologist alleging a failure to diagnose a fractured jaw.
• Medeiros v. Bederman (2006): Jillian successfully obtained judgment for the plaintiff at trial against a plastic surgeon.
• As co-counsel in a historical institutional negligence action involving allegations of decades of physical and sexual abuse, Jillian assisted her clients in securing a substantial settlement.
• Jillian obtained settlement for the family of a young boy who died after an attendance at the emergency department failed to identify a foreign body in his windpipe.
• Jillian negotiated a significant settlement for the family of a man who passed away following a late diagnosis of prostate cancer.
• Jillian successfully resolved litigation on behalf of a man and his young daughters after their mother died as a result of a post-partum hemorrhage, obtaining a sizable settlement on the family’s behalf.

* Past results obtained are not necessarily indicators of future results and the amount recovered and other litigation outcomes will vary according to the facts in individual cases.