When a Life Is Devastated Forever

Life altering injuries are referred to as catastrophic. It means a person’s whole life has been turned upside down.

Most injuries happen out of the blue; the result of a car accident, a slip and fall, a sports injury or being involved in an 18-wheeler accident. “The injuries sustained in instances like those may, in some cases, be classified as catastrophic or life altering when they totally disrupt an individual’s ability to earn a living or shake up their life in a horrendously painful and injurious manner. Injuries like these are the kind that need exquisitely balanced management in order for the victim and/or patient to be able to get home,” detailed Seth Wilburn, who writes for the Gomez Law Group in Dallas.

These types of injuries are often highly complex and involve one or more of a person’s body systems. It takes many people and many hundreds of hours to assist a person this badly hurt. Most often their goal is to go home and be as independent as possible; sometimes that just isn’t possible.

The other catastrophic consequence of an accident so bad that it debilitates the victim is the loss of earning power, and quite often, the loss of a job. The victim is suddenly left in the awkward position of having nothing to live on, nothing to pay bills with and no hope of being able to secure financial resources to allow them to live and get treatment.

In instances like this, you will need the services of a highly skilled Dallas personal injury attorney; an attorney with a track record in handling cases like this – one who is ready and willing to work with vocational and economic specialists, life care planning specialists and experts in rehabilitative medicine.

“Claims like this are complex and complicated and require special knowledge on how to economically evaluate the injuries. The economics of catastrophic injuries are such that the client or plaintiff needs to secure enough money to live and pay medical bills for the rest of their life,” Wilburn explained. The goal? The goal is to get the client the best possible future out of the ashes of what was once a normal, happy and active life.

There are so many types of catastrophic injuries that a book could be written about them, but suffice it to say that the most common ones tend to be paralysis, amputation and burns. “If you have been in an accident and your whole life just went down the tubes, you need to seek legal help to secure your future. There are no ifs, ands or buts about that,” suggested Wilburn.

Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.

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Blowing the Whistle Loudly for Unsafe Working Conditions

Those who speak out about unsafe conditions in a workplace or other things are called whistleblowers.

Most often people associate the term whistleblower with someone who “rats” out someone else for not doing the right thing. While in general that is about what it amounts to, it is far more important than that and whistleblowers serve a very important function in today’s society. They are bellwethers of a company’s actions, an indicator that all is not well in corporate land.

Thanks to whistleblowers and whistleblower legislation, workers may report inappropriate or unsafe work conditions to authorities – and may “not” be punished for doing so. This takes a whole lot of guts to pull off, and at one time there wasn’t much protection for people who were brave enough to stand up for what is right. Over the years, the federal government realized they needed legislation to protect the rights of those who spoke up and out about wrongdoing.

What are some of the more common reasons an employee would take their employer to the authorities? There are a fairly wide variety of reasons, but most commonly, attorneys who do this type of work tend to see employees blowing the whistle on unhealthy or unsafe work conditions, illegally using federal funding or illegal activity, and negligent behavior.

When someone takes the chance to stand up and speak out against wrongdoing, the federal government would be remiss if they didn’t offer those individuals some protection. Those who do speak up are going to ultimately benefit the federal government by usually recovering a significant amount of money for them – or rather on their behalf.

If you happen to be in a sticky situation at work and want to do something about it, but aren’t sure what kinds of protections may apply to you, check out the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Federal False Claims Act, the Whistleblowers Act applicable to your state, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If you do proceed to report and get fired or are the target of retaliation, you have the right to sue your employer. To do that you will need to contact a Dallas employment lawyer.

If you are in a situation like this, you will want to talk to an experienced Dallas employment lawyer to find out precisely what your options are and what your rights are under the various acts. You will need someone in your corner to fight this action for you, as it is the law that any actions taken under the Whistleblowers Act must be handled by an attorney.

Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.

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Shhhhh It’s a (Trade) Secret

Just about every business or industry has its secrets. They also want to keep those secrets from getting out.

When you stop to think about it, it makes sense that most businesses and enterprises have secrets; secrets that protect how they do business, how they make their product, what methods are used and not used, and what inventions they may have. These are the things that they want to hold close to their chest, because if the information got out, they’d be competing against themselves with another company who acquired their information.

Rather than lose their competitive edge, companies with trade secrets make every effort to keep them and have been known to sue people who knowingly sell or accidentally give away critical information about how they do business. This deliberate subterfuge or accidental gaff is a form of unfair competition and those that are doing business in the marketplace are expected to do so fairly – meaning not resort to stealing another’s secrets. If you don’t understand how this works, talk to a seasoned Dallas business lawyer and find out. Better safe than sorry later.

Thankfully there is an Act in place that provides protection against those who get product formulas, techniques, devices, methods and secrets by less than honest means; means which include theft, spying via some form of electronic wizardry, spying by other means (perhaps the old-fashioned way), breach of duty, convincing someone else to breach their duty, misrepresentation, and forking over pots of money to bribe someone for the secret(s). This is where the Uniform Trade Secrets Act comes into play.

The basic kernel of the Act is that if someone profits from ill-gotten information, then unfair competition may exist. Keep in mind that this Act will also mete out punishment if the economic benefit is potential or real; and furthermore, this applies even if the person who stole the secret(s) doesn’t attempt to take advantage of that knowledge.

This is another area of the law that will allow punitive damages, much like some cases in the area of personal injury. For personal injury, punitive damages are awarded for really gross negligence; when dealing with stolen trade secrets, punitive damages may include financial damages, royalties and shared profits. In other words, stealing someone’s secrets is a serious matter and the law doesn’t mess around to make its point when it comes time to own up.

Courts may even grant injunctions to force a company to stop selling an item or service that came about as the result of a stolen secret. These are the things you need to know before you breach an agreement, either on purpose or unwittingly, and any Dallas business lawyer will tell you that right up front on consultation.

Another way that companies work to keep their secrets secret is to ask that workers and contractors sign a confidentiality agreement and spell out in that contract what will happen (including punitive measures) if those secrets are stolen. If a worker breaches the agreement, the company may be able to launch a lawsuit against the person to stop their information from getting out.

When in doubt about what is and what is not a trade secret, or what your agreement says and means, take the time to talk to highly qualified Dallas business lawyer and get the real scoop on what you need to know.

Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.

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