Law Blog

The lawsuit culture that surrounds website accessibility has grown steadily over the past few years and shows no signs of slowing. UsableNet’s research team has been tracking all ADA web accessibility related lawsuits throughout 2018.

 

They affect companies large and small over a wide range of industries in communities at home and abroad. Insufficient progress toward accessibility by industry and unclear government guidance have only contributed to the problem.

 

REPORT CAPTURES OVER 2200 CASES IN 2018, A 181% INCREASE OVER 2017

 

The UsableNet research team has been tracking 2018 federally filed ADA web accessibility-related lawsuits. In 2018, we tracked 2285 lawsuits—up 181% over 2017 which had 814.

 

Download Report at: <https://info.usablenet.com/2018-ada-web-accessibility-lawsuit-recap-report?hsCtaTracking=ced1162c-41a0-41f1-be8a-60b3f96dfeb5%7Cd65dfdae-71bc-492c-9b8f-f53cdbf519ec>

 

Image description: ADA web accessibility-related lawsuits exploded with a 181% increase in 2018 over 2017.
In 2017, there were 814 cases. In 2018, we tracked 2285 lawsuits filed.

NEW YORK- AND FLORIDA-BASED PLAINTIFFS

 

New York and Florida are still where the majority of lawsuits are brought, but this reflects more about the plaintiffs and their lawyers’ locations and less about the companies being targeted. Any company that does business in these states can be targeted. New York and Florida represent 96% percent of total filings, but the key point here is that only the filings are in these two states; the companies listed are from all over.

Image description: A graphic communicates that in Florida, 726 lawsuits were filed in 2018 resulting in an average of 61 lawsuits filed per month. Out of all 2018 lawsuits, Florida was responsible for 32%.  New York was accountable for 64% of all 2018 lawsuits.

THE EFFECT IS NATIONWIDE AND INTERNATIONAL

 

Taking a look at the headquarters locations of the companies that are listed in the New York and Florida filings, it’s clear that the whole nation is affected. The top ten states are New York, California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Georgia, and Connecticut. Also, 11 percent of the cases involve non-US-based companies, so the effect is global.

Image description: The companies sued in these jurisdictions are distributed across the US.

The companies sued in these jurisdictions are distributed across the US.

THERE IS AN INDUSTRY PATTERN

Although many industries are involved across the cases, six stand out for the additional attention they get. Retail, food service, travel/hospitality, banking/financial, entertainment and leisure, and self-service, have the majority of cases, reflecting a general pattern over 2017 and 2018 toward these types of organizations.

Image description: The industries that received the biggest focus in web accessibility litigation include retail, food service, travel/hospitality, banking/financial, entertainment and leisure and self-service

DEFENDING LAWYERS VS. PLAINTIFF LAWYERS

With more than 600 law firms representing companies across the U.S., the top 10 law firms represent over one-third of all cases on the defendant side, while the top 10 plaintiff firms bring over three-fourths of all cases. The report lists the top 10 on each side of the fence squaring off on a regular basis that will likely mean similar settlements and agreements being agreed over time.

Image Description: A visual of a justice scale represents the percentages that each group defends.

SUMMARY

 

Lawsuits at a federal level (covered in the report) continue to rise for two primary reasons.

Firstly, companies have not been proactive enough in both action and communication of digital accessibility, especially as people with disabilities rely more and more on them.

Secondly, the DOJ’s lack of a clear standard leaves lots of room for interpretation and allows even companies that have been proactive to be targeted.

Without action from the DOJ in 2019, which does not look likely, the most effective use of resources for any company is to immediately understand where it stands with regard to web accessibility and the popular standard of the WCAG; create a plan to remediate any barriers to people using assistive technology; and engage a third party to communicate and document the efforts. These three activities should help reduce the likelihood of a company being identified by plaintiffs and their lawyers.

 

About The Author

Jason C. Taylor is the Chief Innovation Strategist and Advisor to the UsableNet CEO with nearly 20 years of experience in usability and accessibility. He is a global technology thought leader for multichannel customer engagement, actively advising leading companies on how to extend their brands across multiple channels for all users. He has been an active member of the accessibility and usability communities since 2001 which started with leading partnerships between UsableNet, Macromedia (now Adobe) and The Nielsen Norman Group.

 

Contact The Author: [email protected], http://www.usablenet.com Tel: +1 212 965 5388

 

Road or other accidents are bound to happen in life. That’s not our prayer. But when they do occur, they don’t come with an explicit price tag, and you might need to settle part the bills yourself. You’ll realize the injury from the accidents will claim much of your finances in the name of medical bills, your time missed from work, peace from the pain and suffering and can even leave you with some disability. And when it reaches a moment like this, then you might see the need of an assistant to file a case for the injuries suffered.

Let’s take a look at the reasons why you might need to hire a personal injury lawyer.

Bur first, who is an injury lawyer?

An injury lawyer is a type of a civil litigator who gives legitimate portrayal to offended parties who are asserting physical or mental damage as the consequence of the careless or reckless demonstrations of someone else, entity, or association. Mazin & Associates are an example of injury lawyers.

Injury attorneys specialize in an area referred to as tort law. Tort law covers public or private wrongs or injuries counting slander and activities for breach of an agreement.

Why you might need an injury lawyer

1. Your Case is hard to deal with

You might not be able to handle a case while trying to recover from an accident.  This might be because the injury claim might be too complex or too big to be processed without a lawyer.

Now, this is where a personal injury lawyer will come in handy.

An injury lawyer will help you maximize your compensation and any other amount that you’ll need in your recovery.

At times your use might also not be that big, but a lawyer will make it more comfortable than when you handle it yourself.

2. While dealing with an insurance company

Insurance companies have been known to be notorious for denial of liability. The insurance company will deny that it insured such type of an accident or it will say that it was your fault for the accident occurring. This I often done to make you believe that the insurance should not take the responsibility. However, with a lawyer you will easily discern such attempts made by an insurance company to skip its duty.

While dealing with an insurance company you will have nothing to lose since the money coaxed from the company can be used to pay the lawyer.

3. Experience

Especially if you don’t have to hire an intern, you should not worry when filing an injury case. The lawyer will take you step by step.

As a layman, you might not be familiar with the jargons used in medical law and learning all the procedures for such a case. The lawyer will help you out.

An injury lawyer will also help you with the research needed and the advice using knowledge harnessed from similar cases.

4. Saving your time

You might not have time to talk to police, getting doctor reports going to the court and other such things required in filing an injury case. At times case may also not be that complex that it should eat into your precious time. But this is what an attorney does for a living.

5. You have nothing to lose even if you lose the trial

While an injury lawyer does all efforts to ensure you get a favorable verdict, not all times you will win the case. You should not worry about such happening since you don’t have to pay any legal fees. Most injury lawyers don’t charge contingency fees.

Therefore, you have nothing to lose even if the verdict doesn’t favor you.

6. A lawyer will offer other options

Even in pursuit of justice, not all cases might end in a courtroom.  With their knowledge, a good injury attorney will advise on other alternatives which can be used in a case.

For example, a lawyer can help in mediation or arbitration which are more cost-saving methods of seeking compensation.

With a good lawyer, you will get the best settlement no matter the method used.

What are some of the mistakes people make while hiring injury lawyers?

2 common mistakes committed when hiring a personal injury lawyer

1. Hiring an inexperienced lawyer

Hiring an inexperienced or a general lawyer is one of the grave mistakes that you should not commit. The chances are that they have never handled such cases and you might end up losing the case.

2. Paying the lawyer upfront

Most of the injury lawyers work on a contingency basis. Meaning that you owe them nothing if you don’t win the case.

When you realize that you have been harmed in an accident, always make sure you contact a personal injury lawyer.

Winter is not an easy time for many of us. Not only are we more likely to suffer from various seasonal disorders such as seasonal depression for example, but additionally we are all more prone to various accidents that might happen to us. This is why it is important to know what kind of compensation you might be eligible for if you fall victim of a slip and fall accident. Always remember that an experienced attorney such as personal injury attorney miami can offer you a helpful hand. This is the type of compensation you can expect to claim:

1. Medical bills. Having an accident can be rather costly, and if you find that you don’t have insurance to cover you when you are in hospital it can put an additional strain on your finances.
2. Wage loss. Since you have had an accident, you might not be able to work for a limited time. The amount of your compensation will depend on how long you were forced to stay away from your work and what kind of financial loss it has cause you and your family.
3. Pain and suffering resulting from the accident. This is something that might be hard to estimate, but generally the more anxiety and sleeplessness you have experienced as the result of the accident the more money you should be able to claim.
4. Permanent or temporary disability. If you find that you might have become disabled due to the accident, which can be either temporary or permanent, it is best to seek proper compensation for your new status as a disabled person.
5.Future medical expenses. If your injury is serious, chances are that you might need to undergo extra medical treatments in the future. It is up to your attorney to calculate how much you might be able to get and claim as much as possible.

The above list is not complete as there might be many other types of compensations you might be eligible for. As your attorney for a more detailed list of what you can hope for and I am sure that they will be more than happy to help.

If you are about to file a personal injury claim, I would like you to know that depending on your circumstances you are likely to succeed due to one of the following reasons. So, if you have a qualified miami accident lawyer at your side, you might succeed due to one or all of the below reasons:

1. Risk aversion. Many insurance companies might award you compensation because they don’t want the case to drag on. They might prefer to offer you a sum of money hoping that you will be happy with it. They don’t want to risk escalating the matter. Of course, this might not always work, because if it were that simple everybody suing another party would succeed, which of course is not true.

2. Protection of reputation. If you file a claim against a reputable company, they might not want to tarnish their precious reputation by having something like that on their record. If this is a big known company you are dealing with, expect some sort of solution even before you go to court. Of course, it is up to you whether or not you are going to agree to their terms, but very often doing so might be beneficial to all the parties involved.

3. Avoiding a prolonged trial. Many companies might choose to settle early thinking that a prolonged trial might cost them too much. They don’t want to be charged with costly court sessions as well as other types of compensation, so they might prefer to settle just to avoid the time consuming consequences that come when a trial takes too long.

In case of every claim, it is important to remember that the outcome might not be what you expected. If this is what happened to you, you might want to contact a reputable attorney who will guide you through the whole process until the very end. He will know the ins and outs of the process, and he will also be aware what kind of compensation is appropriate to what levels of damages you have suffered.

If you currently have a law firm, then you know the importance of having a great reputation and bringing in new clients to your organization. Thanks to the power of the internet, local businesses and attorneys no longer have to rely on just clients in their area. Now businesses and brands of all sizes can engage with each other and conduct business over the Internet, through email, webcast, or even over the phone. However, for this to work effectively you need to create a website and rank in the search results.

In each of the data points below we are going to be diving into how to set this up properly. The first part of the process is to create content on your website that provides value to your audience. The next step is the actually put in the time and effort to create backlinks and make sure your audience knows who you are and how to find you.

Creating Longform Content that Provides Value

On the internet, everyone needs content for their sites. This is especially true with all lawyers and attorneys that are looking to not only promote their services, but to also show off their expertise and work history.

When creating content for your site, this can often be done through a blog. If your website doesn’t have a Blog already then you can easily set this up with WordPress for free.

When creating content for your site, it’s best to make sure each of your articles has at least 500 words but more than 1,000 is ideal. As reported by LawFirmLawyerMarketing.com, this is the ideal amount of text needed to rank above other sites in the search results. For best results, stick with 2,000+ words of content.

Use keywords and search phrases that you think your audience are going to be looking for within the title of your article, and also throughout the text of it. However, don’t just create content for the sake of putting something out there. You need to make sure it actually provides value to your audience. And always and your content with a nice call to action.

Putting in the Necessary Outreach for Quality SEO Backlinks

Once content is live on your site, it is then time to start promoting it to the masses. This can easily be done through social media, but if you want to rank higher in the search results you’re going to need to get some high quality backlinks from other websites.

This can be done by guest blogging on other web sites or even creating custom infographics that other people might want to share. This can be done by Outsourcing the design process or even creating some images of your own and simply posting them to your site along with a high-quality article.

If you want your local law firm to rank higher in the search results, then each of these steps are a pivotal point to getting there. With over a billion active websites on the internet today it’s not so much a matter of creating as much content as possible, but instead putting in the time and effort to effectively promote it.

If you follow these steps and work on each of them a little bit each day, you will see your Law Firm or local attorney agency ranked higher in Google for localized terms and what your clients are searching for.

A high number of car accidents happen in so-called work zones. A work zone is an area undergoing construction and where usually changes to the traffic take place. The reason so many accidents occur in those zones is the fact that many drivers are used to driving in said areas and don’t expect anything unusual to happen. Additionally, it might be less clear as to whose fault it is if an accident has happened in a work zone. If you are not sure about it you might want to hire a car accident lawyer and ask them for help. Below you will find some common reasons so many accidents happen in the work zones:

1. Speeding. Many work zones introduce new speed limits around them, but the truth is that many drivers choose to ignore them and are not used to them. If you happen to see a road undergoing construction or improvement, the best course of action is to reduce your speed and drive carefully.

2. Ignoring construction signs and signals is just another reason accidents happen often in work zones. Before approaching the works, make sure that you are on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary such as temporary traffic lights, narrowings in the road, as well as other signs that alert you of the abnormalities.

3. Accidents involving construction crew members. Even though road construction workers are required to wear reflective clothing they still might become victims of an accident. When driving close to a work zone keep an eye on people working in them as they are the most vulnerable there.

4. Merging. Often, it is required to merge lanes in work zones. Drivers who don’t anticipate those changes might find themselves in a position that they suddenly are about to collide with another car. When driving close to work zones always anticipate lane merges and be on the lookout for vehicles wanting to merge with you. Give them plenty of space and don’t force your way if there is somebody who wants or needs to cut in front of you. Practice defensive driving in all work zones.

If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident due to the negligence of a third party, it is possible that you may be entitled to compensation. These expenses that you could be compensated for include lost wages, hospital & therapy related expenses, as well as pain and suffering. It is always in the victim’s best interest to reach out to a personal injury lawyer to determine if you are due compensation for your accident.

At The Carolina Law Group, our Greenville, SC personal injury attorneys are extremely dedicated to defending individuals who have suffered from an accident due to a third party’s negligence obtain the compensation they deserve after being injured in an accident.

We offer a no obligation Free Consultation for individuals that have been involved in an accident. Our legal advisors will help you understand your legal situation and help determine the best avenues of recourse for you or your loved ones. We don’t require and money up front and work strictly on a contingency fee structure, which means that we don’t get paid unless you win!

How Our Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help You

Having a dedicated advocate throughout your claims process is a unique benefit of hiring a personal injury lawyer in Greenville, SC. Our Lawyers handle all aspects of your claim, including:

• Handling the communication between the injured party and the insurance companies.
• Handling the negotiation with the Attorney representing the at fault party.
• Verifying your claim by collecting relevant evidence.
• Collecting your medical records to ensure you are properly compensated for sustained injuries.
• Conducting interviews with witnesses and individuals with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the accident.
• Gathering police reports that indicate the at fault party’s negligence and/or responsibility.

The personal injury claim process can be complex and sometimes difficult to navigate by someone not familiar with the events. Victims are oftentimes unaware of critical aspects of South Carolina’s personal injury laws, including the statute of limitations and comparative negligence laws.

The above mentioned are important factors that both insurance companies and lawyers representing the negligent party tend to depend upon to attempt to reduce the overall amount of compensation potentially paid to the victim or leverage to deny the victims claim.

However, a trusted a personal injury attorney will attempt to protect the accident victims’ injury claim from interference by insurance companies and the negligent party’s attorneys. The lawyer will provide the victim with details concerning the statute of limitations to bring a case against the negligent party, and ensure the victim receives fair compensation.

An attorney will understand how much your claim is worth

 

Another unique advantage of hiring a personal injury attorney is that they will understand the value of your personal injury claim due to their capability and experience in determining if the victim is entitled to compensation for:

 

• Medical treatment
• Lost wages
• Loss of earning capacity
• Medical assistive equipment
• Rehabilitation
• Travel cost to and from medical appointments
• Prescription medication

Insurance companies have a history of providing victims and/or their loved ones with an initial settlement offer in order to quickly resolve their claim. However, with insurance companies, it is often their priority to pay the victims as little compensation as possible after an accident. This can be interpreted to mean that the initial settlement offer provided to victims will undercover the true amount of financial stressed incurred by the victim.

It is also possible that an accident victim suffers injuries that lead to life-long treatment and care. This often can include long-term rehabilitation, requiring the aid of a caregiver or even requiring medical assistive equipment.

By hiring a personal injury lawyer in Greenville, SC to represent an injury claim, victims can ensure that their interests will be protected and adequately compensated. Our personal injury lawyers at The Carolina Law Group will not hesitate to pursue the maximum amount of compensation deserved.

The Carolina Law Group provides Free Consultations

It is vital to remember that after being injured in an accident, you are protected by the law! Our personal injury lawyers will provide you with the resources and support required to obtain the maximum amount of compensation for your claim.

Contact The Carolina Law Group if you or a loved one have been injured in an accident due to the negligence of a third party. Our attorneys are entirely dedicated to defending the rights of victims of negligence and will pursue every legal option available for your claim.