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Search results for “civil liability”

20 results

Employee vs independent contractor: the liability dodge that usually fails

Vicarious liability means you can end up paying for someone else's misconduct, and the old "they weren't really my employee" escape hatch is a lot weaker than people think.

ARTICLE by Danny Correia

Joint and several liability: the old rule that can leave one defendant holding the whole bag

Joint and several liability means an injured person may collect the full judgment from one defendant, but the real fight is how that rule collides with comparative fault, settlements, bankruptcy, and state law changes.

ARTICLE by Keith Ouellette

bodily injury liability

Coverage that pays when you are legally responsible for hurting someone else. "Coverage" means part of an insurance policy, usually auto insurance, with a dollar limit. "Pays"...

declarations page

One page can make or break how much money is available after a crash, fire, or other loss. If the numbers on it are wrong, too low, or missing a vehicle, driver, or address, an...

uninsured motorist coverage

Think of it like a spare life jacket on a boat: you hope you never need it, but it is there when someone else fails to bring basic safety gear. Uninsured motorist coverage is...

How does a government tort claim work after a long-delayed injury?

A recent policy shift has made this more visible: federal agencies have tightened online claim procedures under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), so more people first learn...

Preponderance vs beyond a reasonable doubt and why your workplace case needs far less proof

In most civil workplace cases, you do not need airtight proof - you need enough credible evidence to show your version is more likely true than not.

ARTICLE by Theresa Palazzo

umbrella policy

An extra layer of liability insurance that kicks in after the limits on your auto, home, or other underlying policy have been used up. Think of it as backup coverage for a bad...

Why is an insurance company asking for money out of a settlement that is supposed to help pay for injuries? Subrogation is the right of an insurer, benefit plan, or government...

personal injury protection

Not the same as liability insurance, which pays for someone else's injuries if you cause a crash. Personal injury protection - usually called PIP - is coverage under your own...

At-will employment: the "you can be fired anytime" rule has one giant catch

At-will employment is the default rule in almost every state, but it only really applies if you are legally an employee in the first place.

ARTICLE by James Thornton

If my injury happened years ago, what is preponderance of the evidence?

The one thing your employer or landlord is hoping you never find out is that preponderance of the evidence is the lowest common standard of proof in civil law. It means your...

ADA coverage looks narrow on paper, but the disability loophole mostly failed

The ADA has a definition that once let employers and businesses argue lots of people were not "really" disabled, but Congress and the courts largely shut that down.

ARTICLE by Brian Saarinen

You'll usually see this on the declarations page of an insurance policy, in a denial letter, or when a claims adjuster says, "Only the named insured can make that change." It...

step-down provision

The part that catches people off guard is this: the policy may show a big coverage limit on the declarations page, but a hidden clause can cut that amount way down for certain...

bad faith denial

Can an insurance company say no even when the policy should cover the loss? Yes - and when it does that without a reasonable basis, or without properly investigating the claim,...

Illegal search, real evidence: why police can lose a case even when they found the goods

Mapp v. Ohio made illegally seized evidence unusable in state criminal trials, forcing police to follow the Fourth Amendment instead of treating it like a suggestion.

ARTICLE by Kyle Reinhart

Habeas corpus is real, but proving you should be released is brutally hard

Habeas corpus lets a prisoner challenge unlawful custody, but modern federal habeas mostly turns on a punishing rule: it is not enough to show the state court was wrong.

ARTICLE by LaKeisha Davis

examination under oath

Miss this for a routine phone call, answer loosely, or skip it, and an insurer may use that against you to delay, reduce, or even deny your claim. An examination under oath is...

Can employees report illegal conduct without being fired?

Yes. What the insurance company does not want you to know about this is that whistleblower protection laws can block retaliation when a worker reports certain illegal conduct,...