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Posted by on Dec 29, 2014 in Personal Injury | 0 comments

Children and Wrongful Death Suits

There is probably nothing more than tragic than the violent death of a child. Children are prone to accidents and mishaps because that is in their nature, and sometimes it leads to their death. No one is to blame. But when a child dies because of the reckless or bad behavior of a third party, that is a different matter altogether. As discussed on the website of the Law Offices of Yvonne M. Fraser in Waco, negligence that leads to injury of others can be frustrating, but when it involves children, it is devastating.

Take the deaths of 20 children (and 6 adults) in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting on December 14, 2012, for example. The shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, deliberately and intentionally killed these people before killing himself because he was mentally disturbed. There are reports that there were many missed opportunities by his mother and school authorities to help him in the years prior to the shooting. It may be said that Adam himself was also a victim of neglect. Parents of 10 children are already in the process of filing wrongful death lawsuits, but against whom or what has not yet been disclosed.

It is bad enough when a child gets injured because of negligent adults, but more so when that adult is a caregiver, such as the case against Care.com which vetted the woman who caused the head injury and eventual death of an infant in her care. It turns out she had a criminal record that the nanny service did not disclose to the parents. A personal injury lawyer will make short work of those facts in a civil lawsuit.

But a wrongful death lawsuit is like any other civil case; no two cases are the same, and as pointed out on the Texas Bar website profile of Ali Mokaram, they are always complex. If you are considering a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit, you should first consult with a personal injury lawyer in your state to find out about your rights.

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Posted by on Dec 27, 2014 in Accidents and Disasters | 0 comments

Insurance Bad Faith and BP Oil Spill Claims

Insurance companies are usually the default means for getting compensation after an accident or disaster, presuming of course the coverage is there. But in all the hullaballoo and issues about the part of British Petroleum (BP) and its partners in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, most people affected by the event have focused on oil spill claims against the fiercely contested settlement program rather than property damage or business loss insurance claims. But business and property owners may actually make a claim with their own insurers for the losses they sustained because of the oil spill over and above what they may or may not receive under BP’s settlement program.

It could be tricky, though. Insurance companies are notorious for quickly denying claims on any pretext and slowly acting on potentially valid ones, and if the policyholder is unsure about their rights, they are easy prey for insurance bad faith practices. According to the website of insurance bad faith attorneys of Smith Kendall PLLC, insurance companies are more likely to exhaust all avenues to avoid liability rather than confirm the trust their policyholders have placed on them to protect them from the financial consequences of an accident or disaster.

Property damage and business economic loss policies are typically acquired as a matter of course, and may even be required by law so many policyholders are not entirely conversant with what it actually covers. Crucial to an insurance claim under the circumstances presented by the BP oil spill are the exceptions. Most policies will contain sweeping conditions that narrow the liability of the insurer considerably, and because the jargon used is generally technical and obfuscating, it requires considerable knowledge of insurance law to understand what they are actually saying in layman terms.

If you want to make a claim against your own insurance for damage caused by the BP oil spill, expect to come up against a lot of legal leg-pulling. Consult with an insurance lawyer to help you in making a claim and avoid becoming a victim of insurance bad faith.

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