Alabama Personal Injury Blog - Consumer Protection

When your Health Insurance Policy is Rescinded

Pete Burns — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:38:34 GMT

Post hoc underwriting is the process the medical insurance companies use to cancel a customer’s policy after the customer develops a serious illness. If the individual develops a condition that is likely to result in large medical costs the insurance companies scour the customer’s medical records to see if there is any basis for contending that the customer had a medical condition that materially affected the customer’s health. Even if the customer did not know of the condition and the failure to disclose was completely innocent the insurer will frequently deny the claim.

According to CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/16/health.care.hearing/ and the NPR podcast on This American Live Podcast at http://podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/386.mp3 the practice has saved the health insurers over $300,000,000 over the last 5 years. That is a huge savings to the insurance industry and a cruel burden to the ex post facto uninsured consumer.

If that happens to you consult a lawyer immediately.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pete Burns

Buyers Beware!

Pete Burns — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:32:11 GMT

I am arbitrating condominium contracts that should be void under the Inter State Land Sales Full Disclosure Act and the sophisticated buyers are appalled at the terms of the contract they signed. If you are going to buy an expensive piece of property take the time to have an attorney review the paperwork and explain the details to you. Deals abound in this market but the devil is still in the details.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pete Burns

Fireworks and Safety

Billy Cunningham — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:50:20 GMT

The 4^th of July is just around the corner and fireworks have become a regular part of its celebration. The American Pyrotechnics Association reports that revenue from the sale of fireworks for 2008 was $940,000,000- the highest ever. That is a lot of fireworks. The association also reports that injuries from the use of fireworks have decreased from 38.3 injuries per 100,000 pounds of fireworks in 1976 to 3.7 injuries in 2008. Considering that 265.5 million pounds of fireworks were sold in 2008- that still equals 9,800 injuries. Some of those were deaths.

The National Council on Fireworks Safety recommends that you only buy consumer fireworks from a licensed store or stand. Consumer fireworks regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission are packaged in bright colors and have safety warnings on the packaging. The packaging sets forth the country of origin, which is normally China. Typical consumer fireworks include fountains, cones, sparklers, fire crackers, bottle rockets, roman candles, ground spinners and multi-shot products.

The National Council warns against buying fireworks from an individual’s house, or out of someone’s car. These fireworks are likely to be illegal explosives that can seriously injure you. You will often find these to be unpackaged and are wrapped with plain brown paper without any safety warnings, or place of manufacture. These may be hand made in illicit factories and other unsafe environments. They use such names as M80, Quarter Stick or Cherry Bomb. If someone approaches you to sell one of these illegal explosives, politely decline and then call your local police department.

The National Council has a new safety poster aimed at helping consumers

distinguish between legal consumer fireworks and illegal explosives. You should

look for these posters at participating consumer firework retailers.

Here are some safety tips:

• Only use fireworks outdoors.

• Obey all local laws regarding the use of fireworks.

• Never give fireworks to young children and always wear safety glasses.

• Always have a bucket of water, or water hose, nearby.

• Alcohol and fireworks do not mix!

“Many times consumers don’t prepare for the evening’s fireworks display” says

Ralph Apel, President of the National Council on Fireworks Safety. “The

designated shooter should prepare a shooting area, assess how many people will be

watching the display and lay out a spectator area that is far enough away from the

shooting site. The shooter should carefully read the label of each firework and

understand exactly what it will do. Preplanning makes for a safe and fun backyard

fireworks display.”

Another concern are sparklers which account for approximately 16% of consumer injuries from fireworks. The National Council on Fireworks Safety offers these safety steps for sparklers:

• Sparkles should ALWAYS be used under close adult supervision.

• Always remain standing while using sparklers.

• Never hold a child in your arms while using sparklers.

• Never hold, or light, more than one sparkler at a time.

• Sparklers and bare feet can be a painful combination. Always wear closed-toe

shoes when using sparklers.

• Sparkler wire and stick remain hot long after the flame has gone out. Be sure to

drop the spent sparklers directly in a bucket of water.

• Never hand a lighted sparkler to another person. Give them the unlit sparkler

and then light it.

• Always stand at least 6 feet from another person while using sparklers.

• Never throw sparklers.

• Show children how to hold sparklers away from their body and at arm’s length.

• Teach children not to wave sparklers, especially wooden stick sparklers, or run

while holding sparklers.

How old should a child be before it is allowed to use sparklers. Some writers say 12. I have also read where some say 5. Parents need to really think before giving a child sparklers.

For more details on firework safety you can visit this website www.fireworksafety.com

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Billy Cunningham

Internet con artists seek to prey on uneasy consumers amid financial crisis

Trevor Reid — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:23:55 GMT

In response to the financial crisis the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has temporarily raised its coverage on bank and credit union accounts to $250,000. This attempt to buttress consumer confidence was enabled by a provision of federal bailout legislation that authorizes the FDIC to borrow from the treasury in the event of losses exceeding the old limit of $100,000.

Unfortunately, identity thieves, spammers, and other Internet confidence artists have their own harmful response to the crisis. Unsolicited email messages that falsely claim to be from the FDIC seem to be on the rise in an attempt to take advantage of consumer fears and the name of an institution prominent in news of the crisis.

On Thursday the FDIC warned consumers of a specific email scam with a subject line that reads "Funds wired into your account are stolen." The message then attempts to mislead the reader into opening a supposed account statement attached to the email. This file is actually an executable computer program and very likely a malicious one. To provoke the victim into running the program, the message body may claim that an account has been involved in criminal activity or bank errors related to the crisis.

According to its web site the FDIC never sends unsolicited e-mails to consumers. Never open any file attached to an email unless you are certain what the file contains. Do not rely on the fact that the sender's name seems familiar or official. This kind of information is easily faked. Replying to the email could also reveal personal information. As a practical matter, ordinary email is not private, nor can you be sure of any sender’s or receiver’s identity. It is safer to direct concerns to a bank in person at a branch or by a phone call that the bank customer initiates.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Trevor Reid