Protecting Yourself From Liability: A Simple Guide

You'll likely meet very few people who disagree with the following statement: things can go wrong. In fact, most would even correct you and say a good portion of the time, they do go wrong. Does that necessarily mean the end of the world should a difficulty occur? Of course not, and we can learn valuable lessons from mistakes. However, most of us would prefer to find that out first-hand, preferring to learn from the mistakes of others around us.

As such, running any kind of enterprise, be it a small pressure washing outfit or an international organization responsible for many companies below it, will soon introduce you to the concept of liabilities. The pressure washer may knock over an expensive ornament in someone's garden, while an international organization, such as one providing CrowdStrike software, could accidentally cause the largest IT outage in history.

In these circumstances, knowing how to protect yourself is essential. Let's discuss a few steps for getting there:

Find The Correct Insurance That Covers You

Insurance is necessary for any business, whether small or large. Often, it's a legal requirement. Outside of general liabilities, the essential purpose is finding the right kind of insurance that covers the specific risks your business might face. For a small business like a pressure-washing service, liability insurance can protect you from damages caused to a client's property. For a clinic, medical malpractice insurance can help protect you against claims that might come from perceived mistakes in treatment, rightfully or wrongfully. This way, you can breathe and conduct your job without treading on eggshells.

Admit To Nothing

Your first instinct might be to apologize or admit fault if something goes wrong. If you're a good, caring person, you want to make things right, not hide behind the legal cold. That said, while apologizing to a client is often the right thing to do regarding customer service, admitting liability is another matter. 

Unfortunately, the words you say in the heat of the moment can come back to haunt you, even if you were trying to make things right. Apologizing for injuring someone accidentally if they walked into your ladder while you were window cleaning, for example, could imply you placed your ladder in the wrong place. If that's caught on CCTV, you may have condemned yourself to culpability. It's a nasty thing to keep in mind, but we have to think this way and from there:

Always Consult Legal

No matter how confident you are in your ability to handle the situation, there are intricacies in the law that the average business owner will need to learn about. That's why having a legal professional on your side is non-negotiable and should be consulted with immediately. For instance, even someone 100% innocent of a crime is usually told never to represent themselves because they cannot give an informed account of themselves like a lawyer can.  Alongside seeking professional legal assistance, digital resources like JusticeDirect can be invaluable tools in terms of learning about the intricacies of small business law.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily protect yourself from liability, no matter the cause of an issue.