Three Legal Mistakes That Can Cost You Your Home - or More

In the last few years, I have been approached on more than one occasion by individuals that had been sued, and were extremely concerned that their hard-earned assets could be exposed and subject to collection on a judgment. Unfortunately, I was compelled to tell some of these people that, in fact, their home and bank accounts were exposed.

And that wasn't even the worst part; in nearly all of these cases, this terrible circumstance - where these people's hard-earned money was subject to being lost - was entirely preventable. In order to help assure that other hard-working people don't fall prey to this problem, I have compiled the following list of short-sighted acts that could land someone in the same unfortunate situation:

Mistake #1 - You Fail to Timely Notify Your Insurer That You Have Been Sued

Nearly all insurance policies require you to inform the company of a lawsuit, or even an anticipated claim, "as soon as practicable." The courts have generally interpreted this provision as requiring that the insurer be given written notice of the claim within 30 days; otherwise, if the insurer's ability to properly investigate the claim is somehow prejudiced, the insurer may rightfully deny your claim. In order to best protect your interests, I suggest that you forward the insurer a copy of the suit papers both by fax (so you have a fax confirmation sheet) and by certified mail, return receipt requested to head off any claim by the insurer that they did not receive timely notice of the claim.

Mistake #2 - You Fail to Procure Enough Insurance to Protect Your Assets

For a difference of roughly $100-$200 a year, you can probably get an additional $200,000 worth of liability insurance; for roughly $300 a year, you can get a $1 million umbrella policy. Very often, people look to save a few dollars on their insurance, and purchase minimum policies that leave their assets, such as their home and bank accounts exposed. This is pure madness. Simply put, at these low prices, you cannot afford not to purchase this additional insurance.

Mistake #3 - "Since this Case is Frivolous, I Will Just Ignore it and it Will Go Away."

Ignoring the lawsuit will not make it go away - it will only make it far worse. You may not want to spend the money to hire a lawyer to defend your interests (again, this assumes that your insurer is not defending you), but if you don't, you will end up with a default judgment against you that prevents you from demonstrating that this claim is meritless. Further, you may end up with a judgment that clouds the title to your home, shows up on your credit reports, and the sheriff may levy on your bank accounts.

Don't be foolish; if you've been sued contact a lawyer that is experienced in the appropriate field - and do it immediately. In this manner, you will be going a long way to assuring that your assets are not needlessly placed at risk.

5 Rules to Succeed in Filing an Insurance Claim

In the wake of several tragic events, including the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, the insurance industry has been crying about their unfair burden in having to pay on all these claims. The truth is, however, that despite accepting and investing their insureds' premiums for years before, the insurance industry continues to seek any and all means to avoid paying on these claims. Unfortunately, it appears that the insurance industry's negative response to legitimate claims is not limited to tragic events, where the company is faced with claims that it may not be able to afford. Since I empathize with those people whose legitimate claims were and are denied, I have compiled the following list to help negate some of the most prevalent bases upon which insurers rely to deny claims.

1. Make sure you have insurance that covers this type of claim - before the claim occurs. Although this may sound overly simplistic and obvious, it is probably worthwhile to spend an hour or two going through all of your insurance policies to determine what is actually covered by those policies, and perhaps more importantly, what is NOT covered by those policies.
2. Make Sure You Follow the Policy's Claims Reporting Guidelines. Having taken your hard-earned money in insurance premiums for years, you would think that the insurers would step up and pay your claim promptly. Although that could happen, don't bank on it. A favorite insurance company gambit is to deny claims that do not strictly comply with their reporting requirements, such as the insurer receiving written notice of the claim on one of their own pre-printed forms. Moreover, it cannot be overemphasized that notifying your insurance broker (instead of the insurer) is almost NEVER deemed sufficient for notice purposes. That brings us to our next rule ...
3. Report Your Claim Promptly. Although as of January, 2009, the law in New York will prevent insurers from disclaiming coverage on the grounds that they received "late notice of the claim" unless the insurer can demonstrate that their ability to properly investigate the claim was prejudiced by the insured's failure to timely notify them of the claim, the courts have previously held that an insurer can be prejudiced in their investigation if not notified within 30 days post-incident.
4. Photograph the Evidence. If your claim is for damage to your property or car, make sure to get your own photographs of the damage before these items are removed from your sight - forever.
5. Document All Damage. Spending one extra hour now will save you a lot more time and heartache 6 months or a year from now when you can't remember what happened to that favorite throw pillow you got from Aunt Phyllis. Perhaps one of the best (and easiest) ways to catalog your losses would be to download the free software at http://www.knowyourstuff.org/.

One final thought: although many articles on these topics, particularly regarding the insurance industry suggest that even mentioning the word "lawyer" may hurt your relationship with the insurer, and hurt your chances to resolve your claim, consider this: if that were true, why aren't there much fewer trial lawyers?

The truth is, the insurers will likely pay an insured more money after they've "lawyered up" than before, if for no other reason than to avoid defending costly litigation.

Three Mistakes that Can Prove Fatal to Your Food Poisoning Case

1) Failing to Get Appropriate and Timely Clinical Testing that Confirms Food Poisoning

Simply put, even if you exhibit all of the classic symptoms of food poisoning, without objective scientific data to support your claim (such as a stool sample), your experts will be hard-pressed to affirmatively prove that you sustained food poisoning, as opposed to a viral infection or other idiosyncratic reaction.

2) Failing to Get Appropriate and Timely Testing that Confirms the Presence of Tainted Food

On the chance that you actually retained any remnant of the food you suspect caused your illness, KEEP IT AND HAVE IT TESTED! Not only will this help confirm the particular villain you are confronting (and, therefore, help in your obtaining proper treatment), it will help defeat the food purveyors' defense that your illness was caused by some other tainted food product.

3) Failing to Confirm the Symptoms of Others Who Shared the Same Food

A common defense to food poisoning claims is that "No one else got sick from this food, so it must have been fine." If you think you got food poisoning, don't be shy; ask those who shared your meal if they also felt ill within 2-10 hours after the meal; if they experienced fever, diarrhea, chills, vomiting and the like. And don't forget to ask them if they followed steps 1) or 2) listed above: it may save you a lot of time, effort and aggravation later on.