When phrases like “umbrella insurance,” “gap coverage” and “additional liability insurance” get thrown about by legal professionals, it’s easy to feel buried beneath the flood of jargon. But guess what?! I’m here to throw you a life preserver, and pull you out of the waters of legalese.

And speaking of life preservers, there’s a big one out there, and it’s being offered to medical and other professionals by XINSURANCE. It’s called Asset Protection.

Jacob Stein, a University of Southern California attorney who specializes in teaching asset protection, writes about the necessity for orthodontists, doctors, attorneys, real estate agents and other professionals, calls asset protection “a set of legal techniques and a body of statutory and common law dealing with protecting assets of individuals and business entities from civil money judgments. The goal of all asset protection planning is to insulate assets from claims of creditors without concealment or tax evasion.”

So, in normal people language, asset protection is like a veil around your assets. Or, even easier to understand, it’s like a moat. With a fence around that moat. And a Doberman Pinscher. A Doberman with a black belt. Click here to read more »

Q: What is a frivolous lawsuit?

A: It’s a lawsuit that is brought by a plaintiff who knows that it has no legal merit.

Q: Why do people file frivolous lawsuits?

A: Bottom line is to get money!  However other underlying reason is that people simply do not want to take responsibility for their own actions. Remember the lady who sued because she was burned from McDonald’s hot coffee?  While that lawsuit is one of the more famous, there are similar lawsuits cropping up every day:

• Lottery winners sued by non-participating co-worker
• Lawyers sue on behalf of shareholders that don’t own shares
• Unpaid interns sue studio for wages
• Obese man sues burger joint over tight squeeze in booths

Q: So what can I do to protect myself against frivolous lawsuits?

A: First off, keep in mind that everyone is vulnerable of being sued–not only corporations.  Whether you are rich or poor, old or young, friend or neighbor, co-worker or family, people are suing each other like crazy for crazy reasons.  These frivolous lawsuits cause a variety of problems such as:

• Increasing the price of products and services
• Increasing the price of insurance
• Wasting the legal system’s resources
• Rewarding people for not being responsible for their own actions
• Forcing innocent people to spend money on a legal defense

Even if a lawsuit defendant prevails in court, an individual may spend a significant amount of money on attorney’s fees, court fees, etc. to defend themselves. That being said, you have to have a plan in place to protect yourself and your assets from this vulnerability.  Check out www.XINSURANCE.COM for information on how you can get this protection.

When it comes to pets and homeowner’s insurance, dogs have often been excluded due to the almost 5 million canine-related injuries that are reported in America each year. While insurers like State Farm and Allstate might be loosening their restrictions, many others still reference what the Centers for Disease Control defines as the most dangerous breeds of dog. Is your pup on the most wanted list?

Source: Property Casual 360

Sitting comfortably in your office chair, you’re probably feeling pretty cozy and perhaps even protected from the ills of the world. Think again. The reality is, when it comes to personal liability, you’re more exposed at the office place than perhaps any other arena. Just take a look at a few of these sobering statistics:

• 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits are filed each year in the United States

• Every dentist can expect at least one malpractice lawsuit during their career

• One out of every two attorneys will have a malpractice claim against them in their career

• The list goes on and on…

So what makes the work place such a minefield of lawsuits? Interacting with a wide variety of employees and/or vendors on a regular basis is one of the primary reasons. Perhaps the lawsuit comes from a coworker of the opposite sex that misinterpreted a particular communication; it might come from a lower level employee that took your advice on some personal matter and ended up dissatisfied; it might even come from the water delivery person that is offended while in your break room. No matter the scenario, for most professionals, there is no “corporate veil” available to protect you from a catastrophic lawsuit – especially if the judgment rendered exceeds your existing insurance limits.

So what can you do to transform that false sense of security into an actual shield against litigation? The easiest (and not unexpected) solution is XINSURANCE. No matter your professional industry, XINSURANCE provides specific coverage to protect your assets in the case of a lawsuit – allowing you to keep up operations as normal.

For more information on how an X Policy could help protect you from losing everything you work for, get a free quote by clicking here.

If you’re like most people, you own a decent amount of stuff; stuff that holds sentimental value, monetary value, or both. Losing it all, in a fire or flood for example, is what common nightmares are made of. But what if it wasn’t a natural disaster at all, but rather a team of movers that came to steal everything you owned away? Believe it or not, it’s a common scene across this great litigious land that we call America. It’s so common in fact, that we’ve now developed ways to protect ourselves against man-made disasters the same way we do against the natural sort. It’s called Asset Protection Insurance.

So what is it precisely?

Asset Protection Insurance was created to protect professionals, their spouses, and beneficiaries (when applicable) vulnerable to catastrophic lawsuits. This coverage helps protect the professional’s property interest by insuring 90% of the loss in fair market value of the property caused by a legal judgment.

Here’s an important thing to note: Asset Protection Insurance is NOT malpractice or professional errors & omissions insurance. Malpractice policies generally cover only the first $1,000,000 of a catastrophic claim. Asset Protection Insurance is designed to protect personal assets when a rendered legal judgment exceeds existing insurance limits – an outcome that is becoming increasingly common. When a judgment causes personal assets to be lost (home, property, cash, securities, etc.), the Asset Protection Insurance policy will replace up to 90%* of the loss in value of the assets to the named beneficiaries.

So next time you wake up in a cold sweat over a fictional fire or flooding, you might want to think about asking your insurance agent if they would also recommend Asset Insurance Protection for your situation. Click here to view more information.

There’s a growing trend out there that should alarm you if you work in HR.

The trend is that of employees seeking to solve workplace disputes through litigation, and they’re successfully pulling HR managers and consultants into the web of liability. In fact, the definition of “employer,” under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, provides for personal liability of company managers and officials.

As an HR professional, your employer may have a business policy that covers you under various circumstances, but an employer can also choose to distance itself from an employee individually named in a lawsuit – especially if the employer feels the employee acted outside the scope of employment.

What does that mean for you? It means you can be named individually in a lawsuit and then be left out in the cold by your employer.

So how do you know if you’re really at risk of being named in a lawsuit? The following HR positions/responsibilities seems to be garnering the most attention from disgruntled employees:

• The HR manager who evaluates or terminate the disputing employee.
• The HR manager or supervisory employee who communicates the decision.
• The company official who makes the defining decisions on an employee in a disputed situation.

Fortunately there are affordable insurance options available for alleviating risk and allowing you to do your job with greater peace of mind. For more information about what options you have as an HR professional, click here.

Here are a few sobering statistics when it comes to dog bites:

• Each year 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs, children making up the largest majority of victims
• 800,000 Americans receive medical attention for dog bites each year
• Half of all children will be bitten by a dog by the time they’re high school seniors
• Senior citizens are the second most common dog bite victims

Every year the third week of May is dedicated to Dog Bite Awareness, an initiative spearheaded by the U.S. Postal Service and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), as well as other national and local organizations. Each year, the goal is to increase awareness about the best ways to help prevent dog bites. Here a few suggestions provided by the AVMA:

• Carefully select your pet. Puppies should not be obtained on impulse.
• Don’t put your dog in a position where it feels threatened or teased.
• Train your dog. The basic commands “sit,” “stay,” “no,” and “come” help dogs understand what is expected of them.
• Walk and exercise your dog regularly to keep it healthy and provide mental stimulation.
• Avoid highly excitable games like wrestling or tug-of-war.
• Neuter your pet.

With all the precautions that you can take to help keep your dog from biting, there’s unfortunately no way to guarantee that it will never happen. The reality is that every dog owner is exposed to potential liability for dog bites and other canine-inflicted injuries. With that liability comes the risk of tremendous personal loss if you don’t have an insurance policy that covers the proper liability coverage.

For more information on dog owner liability insurance that meets most local, state and county ordinances, click here.