7 Ways To Protect Your Business From Lawsuits
No company wants to get sued. Lawsuits can be expensive to deal with and could also cost you your reputation, affecting your ability to generate future business.
To help protect your company from lawsuits, here are a few of the measures that you can take.
Protect Business From Lawsuits – Take out insurance
Insurance will help to pay compensation out in the event of a lawsuit so that you don’t have to dig into your own pockets.
There are so many different types of business insurance to consider, including public liability insurance, product liability insurance, and professional indemnity insurance.
Consider the types of lawsuits that your industry is most at risk of so that you can take out the right insurance policies.
You can compare business insurance rates at sites like Quote Zone.
Have a lawyer on call
It’s worth outsourcing a lawyer when you first start your business to ensure that you’re meeting all necessary legal requirements within your trade.
A lawyer is also a handy connection to have if you find yourself in a difficult situation where you may be at risk of being sued (or indeed if you want to file a legal claim against someone else).
There are many law firms out there, such as Tully Rinckey, that specialize in business law.
You want to find a lawyer that you can form a good relationship with so that you can depend on them when you need it.
Get contracts professionally written up
Contracts can help to put promises in writing. If an employee or a client tries to sue you because they believe that terms of the agreement weren’t met, you can use the contract as proof of what you promised.
It’s worth hiring a professional legal writer to create these contracts.
This will ensure that they are legally tight and cannot be exploited for loopholes.
Invest money in health and safety
One of the most common causes of lawsuits is personal injury.
If an employee, customer, or other individual injures themselves and can put the blame on you, there’s a high chance they could use that opportunity to sue you for compensation.
By putting in place rigorous health and safety measures, you can prevent the chance of injury.
This could include investing in safety equipment, paying your employees to go through health and safety training, or legally protecting yourself with warning signs.
Workspace offers a few tips on health and safety that could be worth reading.
Record everything
Recording conversations and events allows you to provide evidence in the future if someone tries to sue you on false claims.
CCTV is an effective tool for preventing fraudulent personal injury claims (such as someone claiming they fell over and injured themselves on a wet floor) while recording phone conversations with customers can protect you against false claims that you agreed to something over the phone.
Don’t tell lies
Honesty is the best policy. When you lie to employees or clients, and they find out, there’s a high chance that you could get sued – especially if the lie has cost them a lot of time or money (such as lying about a job title when hiring an employer or lying about the description of a product).
Try to diffuse conflict fast
Finally, you should make it your mission to diffuse any conflict fast, whether it be with employees or clients.
If conflict goes unresolved, people will look for other ways to argue their case, and this could include filing a lawsuit.