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Recent Blog Posts
What Should I Do if I Am Involved in a Car Accident as a Ride-Share Passenger in Pennsylvania?
Ride-sharing services have grown in popularity significantly over the last several years. This is primarily due to the ease of use and the perceived high standard of service offered by companies such as Uber and Lyft. However, as with any vehicle-oriented service, there is the potential for car accidents while on the road. The ride-share driver might cause an accident due to negligence, or an accident may happen due to the fault of another driver. In such a situation, determining who is at fault is important. If the ride-share driver caused the crash, is the driver or the ride-sharing company held legally responsible? These are important questions to consider if someone uses this type of transportation and is involved in an accident as a passenger.
How Does Ride-Sharing Work?
Ride-sharing services are entities that bring drivers and passengers together. Specifically, these services allow the rider to request transportation in real time. Once the user of a ride-sharing app requests a ride (typically from his or her phone), the nearest ride-share driver receives the user’s contact information and location, and proceeds to the user’s destination to provide transportation.
Why You Should Not Put Your Car Accident on Social Media
For many people, posting on social media is now a daily habit. They post and share videos, images, and comments talking about good news, bad news, and all sorts of events that are occurring in their lives. This is a harmless activity most of the time, but unfortunately, some people seem to have forgotten that social media posting is a public affair, not a private one. They share things they should not, which could put them in legal jeopardy. One such example of this is when a person posts comments or photos after they are involved in a car accident.
How Social Media Can Be Used Against You
It can be surprising to see how people forget that social media is the stage for a public conversation. Even if you have set your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts to private, what you say and do can still leak out. Further, what you post can create misconceptions that can be used against you in a legal proceeding.
Steps to Take if You Are Injured Due to a Property Owner's Negligence
Premises liability civil lawsuits come about from injuries that were caused due to unsafe conditions on someone else's property or real estate. In other words, the owner or manager of a property failed to follow specific rules or guidelines, or their negligence led to another person being harmed. This can include things like unsafe working conditions at construction sites, accidents in industrial warehouses, or even a simple slip and fall in a grocery store. Whatever the case, individuals who are injured in such circumstances may be entitled to compensation. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries due to unsafe conditions at your workplace, on commercial property, at someone's home, or on public premises, follow these steps so you can recover what you deserve:
It Could Become Easier to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering retraction of decades-old restraints on medical malpractice lawsuits. The decision to do so could make it easier for plaintiffs to sue their doctor if they feel negligence and wrongdoing were committed. Meanwhile, some say such a move would have catastrophic consequences and upend the system.
Background of the Issue
In Pennsylvania during the 1990s and early 2000s, the issue of medical malpractice was hotly contested. Back then, the number of civil lawsuits filed against doctors was much higher than it is now. The reason for this was that state law allowed for lawsuits to be commenced anywhere the plaintiff or defendant had a personal or professional connection. The attorney for the plaintiff would typically select a district where they were most likely to get a favorable jury. However, many thought this practice was unfair to doctors, calling it "venue shopping," and claiming that it encouraged unnecessary lawsuits against medical practitioners.
What Does Negligence Per Se Mean In a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
The ability to prove negligence is one of the most critical factors needed to win compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. It must be proven that the at-fault person had a particular duty of care to you and that they breached that duty. In other words, you have to prove that the party you want to sue acted negligently in some way and that you suffered substantial injuries as a direct result of that negligence.
Examples of Negligence or Breach of Duty of Care
Car accidents are one of the most common bases for a personal injury lawsuit. Drivers have a duty of care to other people on the street to drive with reasonable care and obey traffic laws. If a pedestrian lawfully crosses a street on a green light in a designated crosswalk and a driver on the cross street runs a red light and strikes the pedestrian, the driver would be considered at fault.
What Constitutes Employment Discrimination Based on Religion?
The EEOC processed 20% more religious employment discrimination cases in 2017 than 2007, while total discrimination cases rose just 2% over the same 10-year period. As a result, employers have become more cautious in their handling of religion-based requests for accommodations and exceptions to long-standing workplace policies. Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act protects all aspects of religious observance, practice, and belief.
Workplace Policies With Disparate Impact Based on Religion
Religious employment discrimination cases often involve workplace policies that have a disparate adverse impact on people of a particular religion. For example, suppose an employer requires workers to be able to work any day of the week. That policy would have a disparate impact on people whose religion prohibits working on a holy day. Similarly, a workplace policy that requires workers to be clean-shaven and to wear a uniform consisting of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt can have a disparate impact on men whose religion requires them to wear a beard and women whose religion requires modest dress.
What Does “Disparate Impact” Mean in a Racial Discrimination Case?
“Disparate impact” by race means that an employment policy has a greater negative impact on people of a particular race, even if the employer did not intend the policy to be discriminatory and even if the policy does not appear obviously discriminatory on its face. You can file a claim for financial compensation if you have been terminated from your job or otherwise suffered race-based employment discrimination as the result of a workplace policy with disparate impact.
Requirements to Claim Racial Discrimination By Disparate Impact
In order to make a valid disparate-impact claim against an employer, several conditions must be met. First, you must have personally suffered harm as a result of the policy, such as being fired because you violated the policy.
Can I Win a Claim for Racial Discrimination That Is Unintentional?
Racial discrimination in the workplace does not have to involve open hostility, derogatory remarks, and intentional acts in order to support a claim for damages. In fact, many cases have been won where an employer’s race-based discrimination was subtle and even unintentional.
When racial discrimination occurs in a more subtle fashion, you may not even be sure whether you have a valid claim. Even after you file a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and their investigation reveals some evidence of discriminatory practices, there is no guarantee that the EEOC will decide to prosecute your case. In such cases, you may need to engage a private attorney to help you collect damages.
What Are Some Signs of Subtle Racial Discrimination?
A supervisor or hiring manager may never utter a word against people of another race or intentionally make discriminatory decisions about hiring, promotion, or termination. However, they may still be perpetuating discriminatory practices.
How Can a Private Attorney Help Pursue an Employment Discrimination Claim?
When you file a workplace discrimination claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), this organization will investigate your complaint to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support your claim. If so, the EEOC will file charges against the employer and attempt to settle the case through its conciliation process.
If the employer refuses to settle your case through conciliation, only then will the EEOC consider filing a federal court lawsuit against that employer. However, the EEOC is not required to pursue your case in court. In fact, the EEOC only pursues litigation in a small percentage of the cases where it finds sufficient evidence of discrimination and fails to resolve the case through conciliation. In making this determination, the EEOC considers factors such as the seriousness of the violation, the specific legal issues involved, and the extent to which a court ruling on the case would advance the agency’s wider efforts to reduce and prevent workplace discrimination.
What Monetary Compensation Is Available in EEOC Discrimination Claims?
If you have experienced employment discrimination because of your age, race, sex, or another attribute protected under the U.S. Civil Rights Act, you have the right to file a claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If the EEOC determines that your claim of discrimination is valid, you may be eligible to receive substantial compensation for the harm that was done to you. The amount of compensation that you can receive depends on the nature of your case.
Intentional Sex-Based Wage Discrimination
If your claim is that your employer paid you less than other people in comparable positions due to your gender, your compensation will be in the form of back pay. If you were paid $10/hour, and workers of the other gender were paid $11/hour, and you worked at that job for 1,000 hours, you would be eligible for compensation in the amount of $1,000 ($1 per hour wage difference times the number of hours that you were underpaid).
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