Lawsuits can be damaging both to your company’s finances and your company’s reputation. Here are a few ways to defend yourself from being sued.
Stay safe and secure
Many lawsuits are the result of health and safety or security weaknesses. By improving these areas, you can prevent accidents from happening that could lead to you being sued. Health and safety measures such as putting a wet floor sign down when mopping could prevent personal injury claims as the result of people slipping over (even if people ignore this sign, you can still use this as a defence to prove that you gave warning). Security measures such as CCTV meanwhile can deter burglars and prevent customer information being stolen, which could lead to a lawsuit (CCTV can also catch out claimants who may fake an injury – as is unfortunately very common).
Put it in writing
When agreeing something with a customer or an employee, it’s worth putting it in writing for your own benefit. This can prevent shady individuals from suing you for things they claim you said that may in fact be complete lies. Legal contracts are a popular way to agree to terms and could be issues to any new employees or clients that you take on. Using signage with written warnings and summarising conversations with email exchanges are two other ways to protect yourself by putting things in writing.
Train your staff
Well-trained staff are less likely to make mistakes that could lead to a lawsuit. Make sure that your employees are trained to a certain level before trusting them with big responsibilities. Don’t just rely on online training, but try to give some in-person training too – especially if it’s a new recruit that has never worked in that trade before. Creating a handbook for employees to refer to could also be helpful.
Get insured
Insurance won’t stop lawsuits from happening, but in some cases it could help to cover the financial costs. Professional indemnity insurance can protect you against lawsuits made by clients for customer service failures – you can learn more about professional indemnity insurance online. There are also specific types of insurance such as cyberinsurance for paying out reparations in the event of a cyber-attack, and commercial property insurance for paying out compensation in the event of a burglary or a fire. Taking measures to improve security and health and safety can often lower insurance rates, which is another good reason to invest in these measures.
Have a solicitor on call
It’s also worth having a legal professional on call who you contact in the event of a lawsuit. They may be able to defend you if a claim is made unjustly. Solicitors may also be able to prevent lawsuits from happening in the first place by offering advice on how to deal with difficult clients/employees or perhaps helping you to write contracts and introduce preventative measures. On top of this, a solicitor may be able to help you make legal claims against others if the situation calls for it.