Albany Law School Professor Patrick M. Connors discusses recent New York cases addressing the discoverability of social media accounts in his article entitled Disclosure of Information on Social Networking Websites:

The court concluded that the “information sought by defendant regarding plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts is both material and necessary to the defense of this action and/or could lead to admissible evidence." The court recounted that plaintiff's "public profile page on Facebook shows her smiling happily in a photograph outside the confines of her home despite her claim that she has sustained permanent injuries and is largely confined to her house and bed." Based on the public portions of plaintiff's social networking sites, which contained material that was at odds with her claims and deposition testimony, the court determined that "there is a reasonable likelihood that the private portions of her sites may contain further evidence such as information with regard to her activities and enjoyment of life, all of which are material and relevant to the defense of this action."

For the entire article, please see here.

Most people would be less than shocked to learn that $5.8 billion was spent defending claims and compensating victims of medical negligence in 2010; however, that $5.8 billion only accounts for a mere 0.3 percent of the overall health care costs in the United States.  According to a report recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the United States spent $2.6 trillion in 2010 for its health care.  Additionally, while overall costs increased by 3.9 percent from 2009, medical negligence costs decreased from $6.6 billion.

SHOULD I PURCHASE RENTAL CAR INSURANCE?

Usually, any rental car insurance is considered “excess.”  That means it will be effective only after all other personal insurance is used.  Such coverage can also be quite expensive.  Therefore, consumers should check with their own car insurance company and/or agent to figure out what kind of rental insurance they already have in place.  That would allow the consumer to sensibly deny or decline the high-priced rental insurance—offered by the car rental company—when they do rent a car.

The Ohio Department of Insurance also gives consumers some advice concerning the following four questions about Rental Car Insurance:

1.       What coverage is normally offered through my rental car company?

2.       What should I expect from the rental car company (i.e., what are rental car companies prohibited from doing)?

3.       Are there other options for meeting my insurance needs?

4.       What specific questions should I ask my insurance company or agent?

For the agency’s helpful answers to these questions, follow this link:  
http://www.insurance.ohio.gov/Newsroom/Tips/Pages/AutoRentalInsurance.aspx.  

www.kitricklaw.com

Lawsuits against bars for over-serving alcohol when a car wreck happened can be very difficult, but often justified by the fact, as in this recent tragic case:

ttp://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/17/1986089/driver-bar-sued-in-fatality.html?storylink=mrc

There are many ways to fight identity theft, which is growing dramatically and exponentially, primarily because of the internet, our increased shopping on the computer, and our use of social media.  The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has an excellent page on DETER, DETECT, DEFEND: AVOID ID THEFT and it outlines the various ways you can protect yourself. That website page is

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt01.shtm

We strongly urge you to go to this page and follow the steps best spare   you and your family from the curse of identity theft.

There is an estimated one billion dollars  of unclaimed death benefits sitting in the banks of life insurance companies.  Why?  Life insurance companies use a Social Security death database to stop retirement-income checks, however they fail to use the same database to determine if the policyholders are still living or if their death benefits need to be paid out.  In recent months attorneys and state officials have started investigating such insurers to discover whether they have violated laws when it comes to paying out such benefits.   

If you are a potential beneficiary you can contact the insurers directly, review old income-tax returns for expenses paid to life insurance companies, and continue checking the mail of the insured for up to one year after their passing for premium notices.

For more information about this topic visit our website at www.KLHLaw.com or contact our office, 614-224-7711, to learn more about your legal rights.

Winter safety tip – be aware of static electricity at the gas pump

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/12/27/if-gas-prices-wont-kill-you-this-just-might.html