Civil Litigation/Employment Issues
Employment Issues
Texas is known as an “employment at will” state. That means there are limited situations where an employee has rights upon termination. These situations involve “whistle blower” acts, and/or reporting an illegal act to the authorities. If an employee is terminated for turning in his or her employer for an illegal act, he or she has rights upon termination. Likewise, an employer cannot terminate an employee for refusing to do something the employer has asked the employee to do that is illegal.
Employees also have rights if a termination is based on age, disability, color, religion, or nationality. Most of the time employers will have sought legal counsel well in advance of terminating an employee. The employee’s personnel file is usually well documented with incidences that the employee may not even know about. It is critical that the employee answer any reprimands in writing so that there is a written response in the employee file.
Many times an employee is terminated for no apparent reason. The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore has seen multiple cases of employees being terminated when the employee was a highly rated and ranked employee. The common factor seen many times is the employee requiring significant healthcare for a chronic health condition which obviously affects the insurance company’s health insurance premiums paid by the employer. Unfortunately, at this time, in the state of Texas, there is little that can be done in this scenario. It is, however, critical that an employee understand his or her rights when becoming critically or chronically ill. If you have been retaliated against or discriminated against at work, or wrongfully terminated from your job, please contact an employment attorney at The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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Corporate Director and Officer Liability
Corporate officers and directors owe a high level of care to the corporation and the shareholders. This is known as a “fiduciary duty.” Often times tightly controlled corporations will engage in inappropriate activity that is illegal and deprives the shareholders of profits. Directors of corporations have the responsibility to take notice of certain acts going on inside a corporation and to inquire into certain things. A director cannot sit by and allow a corporate officer to injure the corporation through bad business practices. Many times the inappropriate acts of a corporate officer can be imputed to the corporation, i.e. the corporation can be held responsible for knowledge of the inappropriate act.
Many times corporations will engage in self-dealing, i.e. officers will set up corporations and then deal with the corporation to which they are an officer but the dealings may not be at arm’s length. Any relationship between a corporate officer’s owned corporation and a corporation of the officer should be carefully examined to make sure that inappropriate conduct is not occurring and that profits are not being thrown away.
Also, many times corporate officers and directors can exceed the scope of their authority thereby endangering a corporation. If you have been injured as a result of inappropriate management of a corporation, it is possible that you may have a cause of action against the corporation and/or its officers and directors. Please contact a director/officer liability attorney at The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore today.
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Medical Privacy Litigation
Under a relatively new law called the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), medical care providers are prohibited from disclosing medical information concerning patients without certain steps being taken. There are strict penalties for violation of this federal law. If you believe that your medical privacy has been violated by the unauthorized release of your medical records, you may have a cause of action. Please contact a HIPPA violation lawyer at The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore for experienced representation.
Business Torts
Business torts include disparagement or injury to a businesses’ reputation, unfair competition, and interference with contracts. This can be seen many times where one business has a lucrative deal with another business, competitors will come in and try to undercut and move in on the deal. While fair trade and competition is part of the American system, interfering with the contract of another company is a violation that could subject the person interfering with the contract to civil remedies. We represent business tort cases on a contingency basis.
If your firm has suffered damage from disparagement, unfair competition, or interference with contracts, contact a business torts attorney at The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore
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Piercing the Corporate Veil and Successor Liability
It is a common business practice to set up a series of corporations which are under capitalized, i.e. underfinanced and in essence are “sham corporations.” These sham corporations conduct business without any assets, incur liability, and when someone attempts to enforce a right, the business simply shuts down or files bankruptcy.
Many times, parent companies can be held responsible for the acts of these sham corporations. There are theories of liability, including joint business enterprise and joint venture, where a company can be held responsible for another company’s acts if they engaged in a common purpose and agreed to share profits. Often times there is fraud involved in the transaction and to the extent there are common shareholders and directors between these corporations, there may be a way to hold the successor or parent corporation liable.
Please contact an attorney at The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore for effective representation.
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An arbitration clause is now included in virtually every contract or agreement. You should carefully read any contracts before buying a house, engaging an engineer, or purchasing a car. An arbitration clause can severely limit your rights to recovery and to a trial by jury. In the event you do have an arbitration clause and need to be represented, The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore can help you in this regard. Contact an arbitration attorney at our law office today.
Hospital Staff Privilege Matters
The Law Offices of Randall D. Moore represents physicians and other allied healthcare professionals in actions against hospitals and other healthcare organizations. If you are a healthcare professional and your privileges have been suspended or terminated or you have otherwise been disciplined, you need to consult an experienced attorney in this regard immediately. Most hospitals have a due process procedure which often excludes attorney representation. It is therefore critical that any response that you make to any inquiry be prepared properly. It is also necessary to obtain counsel as to what to respond to, when to respond, and how to respond to any verbal or written complaint potentially challenging your rights to practice at any healthcare organization.
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