How Likely Is Your Business To Get Sued?

Many businesses don’t think they’ll ever have to deal with a lawsuit, but the truth is that lawsuits against businesses are very common. Studies suggest that up to 53% of businesses get sued every year. Almost all business owners will have to deal with lawsuits (or, at the very least, the threat of a lawsuit) at some point in their career. This post delves more into the risk factors and how to protect yourself against lawsuits.

What Are The Biggest Causes Of Lawsuits?

Businesses get sued for all kinds of reasons. However, there are a few common causes for lawsuits. These include:

• Personal injury claims
• Auto accident claims
• Damage or loss of property claims
• Breach of contract claims
• Discrimination or harassment claims
• Intellectual property infringement (e.g. trademarks, copyright, patents)

Which Industries Are Most At Risk Of Lawsuits?

There are some industries where lawsuits are much more common. If you’re running a business within one of these industries, you should be more prepared for the risk of being sued. Industries that are most at risk of lawsuits include:

• Construction
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Manufacturing
• Gambling

How Can You Protect Yourself From Lawsuits?

The best way to protect your business from lawsuits is to first identify the most common causes of lawsuits in your industry. For example, construction businesses are most likely to deal with lawsuits involving breach of contract or personal injuries. Once you’ve identified these risks, you can work out ways of reducing these risks. This could include taking great care when writing up contracts and taking stringent health and safety measures to make your construction safe.

There may be professional consultants who can come in and identify these risks. After all, not all risks are obvious – by carrying out a full risk assessment (such as a health and safety risk assessment) with the help of a professional consultant, you can make sure that there are no unprotected hidden risks.

Make sure that you keep to certain quality standards and that you train employees to follow these standards. Many companies introduce protocols to protect against risk, but fail to train employees to follow these protocols. Putting it in a handbook isn’t enough – you need to physically train employees what to do.

It’s important to realize that you may not be able to protect your business against all risks. Lawsuits may still occur and you’ll have no choice but to pay them. Having insurance in place can allow you to pay compensation without having to pay out of your own pocket (which could be important when it comes to large lawsuits). There are various different types of insurance out there ranging from contractor insurance to medical malpractice insurance – make sure to do your research in order to find the right one. By shopping around, you can look for the cheapest rates.

There may be times when a lawsuit is filed unjustly, in which case it’s worth being able to legally defend yourself. Consider having a solicitor on call who you can rely on to come to your defense if you don’t feel you deserve to pay out compensation. Solicitors may also be able to help you prevent lawsuits occurring by offering advice when dealing with angry customers threatening to sue.