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Limit Your Liability to Protect Your Assets

If your business runs into serious difficulty, will it bring you down too? For example, what if one of your employees got involved in a serious car accident while working for you? Will the resulting lawsuit bankrupt you personally?

Here are just a few ways of protecting yourself against catastrophic losses and lawsuits.

1. Obtain Adequate Insurance Coverage

If someone slips on the sidewalk of your home and injures himself, he could sue you for damages. Your tenant`s or homeowner`s policy may cover you for liability in such an event.

However, what if it is your customer who falls on his way to visiting your home-based business? You will need an extra rider on your house insurance to cover such incidental business use. The extra charge for this additional coverage is well worth it.

If you use a car for business use, insure it for such. Some people think that they are being clever writing off automobile expenses for income tax purposes but at the same time not informing the insurance company that the car is being used for business.

This is false economy. If you ever get into an accident, police and insurance investigators will certainly find out that you used the vehicle for business purposes. If you`re not paying for business coverage, why would the insurance company cover your claim?

As well, what do you think an income tax auditor would think of your claimed business expenses on the vehicle when your insurance policy indicates personal coverage only? Avoid this additional exposure to tax liability.

Be sure to obtain required workers` compensation coverage. Some have been held responsible for all the medical and other expenses of an injured worker, as well as fines for non-compliance to the law. These costs can be quite substantial and even bankrupt you.

Consider obtaining product liability insurance. This applies not just for any products you manufacture but also for products you sell that are made by others.

2. Incorporate Your Business

Insurance may give you some protection against loss. However, you may suffer business losses and lawsuits that may not be covered by your insurance fully. What then?

An extra level of protection can be obtained by forming your own corporation. Even though incorporating yourself will result in extra paperwork and costs, it could be the best insurance you ever bought.

This is because the corporation is a seperate legal entity or person. Even though you may own the corporation, if the corporation operates the business, it is the corporation that will be sued or suffer loss.

If, for example, the corporation had severe business losses resulting in debts that could not be repaid, the corporation would be insolvent. You, as a shareholder, would lose your investment in the company but would generally not be responsible for any of its debts. Thus, you would not have to sell your home or other personal assets to cover the corporation`s liabilities.

On the other hand, there are cases where directors of a corporation can be held responsible for liabilities if they didn`t act responsibly. You can`t hide behind a corporation, commit criminal acts and expect to escape accountability.

For more information about incorporation, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/incorporation.html

3. Protect Yourself With Legal Agreements

Properly drafted written agreements can protect you in many ways. First of all, they can sometimes prevent misunderstandings that can lead to legal problems. Secondly, they may limit your exposure to lawsuits and losses.

Contracts can limit your exposure to liability by including provisions restricting the scope of your work and responsibility, having disputes handled by arbitration rather than through the Courts, and specifying that the maximum damages payable shall not exceed the amount of the contract.

A special area to watch out for is the Internet. There are many laws that impact on websites including matters affecting children, privacy, earnings claims, and unsolicited e-mail ("spam"). Certain agreements and notices on your website may help to protect you.

For more information about Internet law, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/internet-law.html

Protect yourself from catastrophic losses and lawsuits. Take steps today to protect your assets by limiting your exposure to liability.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/ has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

posted by ujzboi @ 8:23 PM 0 comments

What Exactly Does A Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Lawyer Do?

He helps navigate the murky waters that can trap an unknowing victim into muck and mire.

When a person slips and falls, causing injury, your lawyer needs to find out why you slipped.

Was there a defect on the property that should have been corrected? Was it simply that you didn't see where you were walking? Was the staircase not up to code so as to make it dangerous? These are the questions your lawyer will need to examine.

Products causing injury

This is known as product liability. Let's say you opened a bottle of soda and the cap exploded off the bottle and into your eye causing permanent damage. Is the bottling company to blame? Possibly. How about a miter saw that is supposed to have a guard to protect your fingers as you slide the wood into the cutting blade? What about a car that permits you to move the gear into reverse without first putting your foot on the brake? (This is called a gear interlock to prevent kids from playing with the gear lever. It's happened where they slip the gears into reverse and the car starts to move causing injury).

Evaluation of a product that is commonly used or bought can be very technical. Many times we need to hire engineers to evaluate a product to see whether it was designed properly and was properly placed into the marketplace.

Medical Malpractice

Malpractice is a departure from good and accepted medical care causing injury. As with anyone, doctors are held accountable for their actions, as we all are. In order to confirm evidence of wrongdoing we need to have medical experts review your records before being able to start a lawsuit for your injuries. Most cases that I see in my office do not meet the strict criteria for being able to start a case. Of those we accept, some will go to trial and others will be settled before trial.

Malpractice cases are one of the most hotly contested areas of law today. The defense attorneys we often encounter are extremely well educated and trained at defending these lawsuits.

Car accidents

We all know what terrible reputations lawyers get from all those tacky advertisements showing damaged cars and clients in wheelchairs holding up poster-sized checks with lots of zeros after some number.

But the fact is that there are accidents and very serious injuries that result from these horrible events. Lives are shattered from a moment of carelessness. Just look around at how many people still talk on their cell phone while driving even though it's against the law!

Most people aren't interested in these informative newsletters because luckily, a tragedy hasn't befallen them. That's ok. We hope that it never does. The purpose of this newsletter is to give my readers an understanding of what we as lawyers do, and how we can help if the need ever arises. You'll find that I like to inform my readers about their options before they ever need a lawyer, and before they ever step foot into a lawyer's office. How many other lawyers do you know who do that?

In an accident case, I look to see how the accident happened. Where were you driving? What were the road conditions? Was your car in good mechanical condition? Was someone speeding? Did someone turn where they shouldn't have been turning? Was horseplay involved? (Think back to when a turkey was thrown from a moving car causing terrible damage to the woman driving behind them).

While going about our daily lives we shouldn't have to worry ourselves about getting injured. Common sense should dictate what good conduct is and what is not. Unfortunately, there are many people out there who are simply careless about how they do their daily activities. Haven't we all seen people reading the newspaper while stuck in traffic- and they're driving! How about applying makeup on the way to work, and driving at the same time?

Imagine this scenario

A woman is late for work.

She's in her car and traffic is crawling. She's putting on lipstick and looking in the rearview mirror to see if it's on correctly. At the same time her cell phone rings, and while answering it, she decides to light her cigarette. Unfortunately for her, the car lighter drops to her feet and now she's got her lipstick in one hand, the cell phone in the other, a cigarette dangling in her lips, and she's supposed to be paying attention to the road.

Can't you just hear the accident in your head, and visualize the crushing of metal, as her eyes are on the floor looking for the lighter? Believe me, there are plenty of cases like this one that have caused other people injury.

Imagine if people were never careless! There would be no accidents, no need for insurance, and there'd be no personal injury lawsuits. Unfortunately, we are not perfect and accidents do happen.

But how then do you determine whether the accident was something that couldn't be avoided or was the result of lack of attention? We must conduct a thorough and detailed investigation.

Remember, when an injured victim comes to us, they're telling us what happened to them from their point of view. We have to investigate and make sure that all other points of view (witnesses) can confirm what we've been told. When we do that, we build your case and can then support the facts that led to your injury.

Dog Bites

Did you know that certain types of dogs are more prone to bite someone than others? Let's look at the pit bull for example. Just because a pit bull bites someone, as opposed to a tiny Chihuahua, does that mean the owner of the dog will be held responsible? The answer depends on many factors.

If the dog has never had any prior vicious tendencies and has never bitten anyone before, how then can his owner be responsible for this biting episode? One could argue that all pit bulls in general, are inherently violent. Not a bad argument to make, but not a totally accurate one either. What if you learned that before biting, the dog was tormented and teased repeatedly by a guest? Would that change things? Sure it would.

Injustice, humiliation and psychological injuries

We can all tell when an injustice happens-

Someone is pulled over because the color of his skin is different from those living in the neighborhood.

Someone is denied entry to a club because their religious beliefs are different than those who run the club.

Someone is denied service at a restaurant because of the way they dress or the accent of their voice. How about a woman who was denied a partnership because she was pregnant? What about the indignity of a high school football player who was sexually abused while away at football training camp with his high school team?

Despite all of our advances today, there is still bigotry, prejudice and hatred in this country. If you're a victim of injustice or humiliation what can you do about it? There are certain types of lawsuits that allow victims of injustice to seek justice. They're sometimes called discrimination lawsuits, or violation of civil rights lawsuits. The pain inflicted by injustice can be devastating and have long-term social and psychological effects.

Your lawyer will ask about your history, both medical and psychological. You will probably be asked to have specific psychological testing and counseling to confirm and identify some of the problems you are currently experiencing.

I know that some people believe that if an injury can't be seen that means it's less meaningful than a horrible disfiguring injury. That's not always true.

I'll bet there's something in everyone's childhood where they can remember a parent or an older child saying something bad about you. Looking back all those years, you still vividly remember the hurt you experienced that day. That's injustice. There's no 'physical' injury, but the emotional scar is ever-present.

So, "What does a lawyer do?"

A lawyer is someone to guide you; to help you through your trouble; to explain the law to you and how the law applies to your facts. A lawyer should be advising you of your legal options and what you can do to correct the injustices that have happened to you. That's what a good lawyer does.

Attorney Oginski has been in practice for 17 years as a trial lawyer practicing exclusively in the State of New York. Having his own law firm, he is able to provide the utmost in personalized, individualized attention to each and every client. In our office, a client is not a file number. Client's are always treated with the respect they deserve and expect from a professional. Mr. Oginski is always aware of every aspect of a client's case from start to finish.

Gerry represents injured people in injury cases and medical malpractice matters in Brooklyn, Queens, New York City, the Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. You can reach him at http://www.oginski-law.com, or 516-487-8207. All inquiries are free and totally confidential.

posted by ujzboi @ 7:53 PM 0 comments

Hospital Superbugs - Making A Personal Injury Claim

Going to hospital can be very stressful, whether you are being admitted for a minor operation or to be treated for something more serious. Being away from home and your family and possibly having to undergo surgery and painful procedures is an unhappy experience for most people. The only consolation is that you will soon be able to go home after having been looked after by people who are trained to make people better. Or so you thought.

Deaths from MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, doubled in the four years between 1999 and 2003. MRSA is often caught in hospitals by people who have been admitted for a relatively minor operation. Having to go to hospital to receive treatment for appendicitis or for a broken arm can suddenly become a very traumatic experience for someone if they catch a strain of the hospital super bug that of late has been spreading through hospital wards like wildfire.

What is MRSA?

Staphylococcus is a family of common bacteria which many people carry on their skin and can cause mild infection in an otherwise healthy person if it gets under the skin or into the lungs. A more serious infection can occur, such as boils or pneumonia and is difficult to treat when the staphylococcus is resistant to one or more of the conventional antibiotics. MRSA infections can be partly blamed on the overuse of antibiotic for every day illnesses. Many doctors prescribe antibiotics for people with viral infections, knowing that they will not get rid of them. This creates an environment where the body cannot fight infections easily and stronger courses of antibiotics need to be prescribed to get rid of the illness.

MRSA is caught through contact with a carrier. If it is passed on to a patient who has an illness already then a more serious infection may occur. This is where the problem with hospital caught infection lies and why many people are seeking to make a personal injury claim against health care providers such as hospitals.

Symptoms

MRSA can cause a broad range of symptoms depending on which part of the body is infected. The parts of the body infected can include surgical wounds, burns, catheter sites, eyes, skin and blood. It causes pain and swelling at the site of infection. The two reasons that people in hospital are more likely to catch MRSA are that firstly, people residing in hospitals are generally more likely to get an infection because they are older, weaker and sicker than the general population and secondly, because patients are close together in wards constantly being touched by doctors and nurses who have just touched other patients.

Do hospitals cause infections?

Cleanliness in hospitals is of paramount importance. MRSA is frequently transmitted between patients by hospital staff. Whilst many hospitals are now stringent about hand washing and most wards have antibacterial spray at the entrance of each ward, many cases of infection do slip through the net. Alongside many hospital beds are alarms so that patients can alert staff of a hygiene risk, such as a spillage. Visitors are also encouraged to clean their hands upon entering a ward.

Making a personal injury claim

If you have sustained an MRSA infection whilst being treated for something else then you may be able to make a personal injury claim. If it can be shown that your infection was caused by lack of cleanliness then it is possible that you could seek to claim compensation. In an isolated case it may be difficult to prove that the hospital was responsible for your illness; however when there is a widespread case of MRSA amongst patients then your claim may be brought. You may want to speak to a personal injury solicitor about your circumstances and get free legal advice before you proceed with your personal injury claim.

Online personal injury compensation claim people with a 97% claim success rate. Call 0800 197 32 32 or visit http://www.the-claim-solicitors.co.uk for more details.

posted by ujzboi @ 10:01 AM 0 comments