For what reasons and how often is a photographer sued?

[skieur]

As to where I am getting my info. ...from personal experience with major accidents and personal injury. No deductible was payable because the other guy was at fault. Of course the insurance company will not necessarily tell you that. You need to know the insurance regulations. My lawyer was voted the best in Canada by his peers in dealing with auto accidents and personal injury so his reputation precedes him when he talks to insurance companies.

 

[bribrius]

As to where I am getting my info. ...from personal experience with major accidents and personal injury. No deductible was payable because the other guy was at fault. Of course the insurance company will not necessarily tell you that. You need to know the insurance regulations. My lawyer was voted the best in Canada by his peers in dealing with auto accidents and personal injury so his reputation precedes him when he talks to insurance companies.

you're wrong. And that's Canada. you are thinking about accidents with people that have insurance. in which case his insurance would have paid it and I wouldn't have to pay the deductible as it wouldn't be filed on my policy. But it was filed on my policy even though he was totally at fault, as he had no insurance. If I want to recover my deductible I would have to sue him for the grand. As he had no insurance to pay the full cost.

 

[astroNikon]

Read this interesting article about weddings (dentists, etc) and contracts
You ruined my wedding ? and you?re suing me? - MarketWatch

 

[bribrius]

Read this interesting article about weddings (dentists, etc) and contracts
You ruined my wedding ? and you?re suing me? - MarketWatch

it has been like that for a while with contracts. individuals and companies taking advantage in contracts making them very one sided or restrictive to the other party. If you are found with a illegal or unenforceable contract all of the contract or certain language can me thrown from the bench. i have heard they have laws on illegal contracts (fines or something) but haven't actually heard of anyone being fined or sent to jail over one. I have been VERY careful in having the couple i've used drawn up (not photo related). With my attorney explaining the fine line between having a viable, fair and equitable contract in a court proceeding, and having one that pisses off the judge so it comes back to bite me in the behind when he tosses it out and nails me to the cross. some contracts (especially realestate or tenant law) can get you in real trouble if you aren't careful.

Generally speaking a contract cant supercede federal or state law or restrict guaranteed rights. There are things a person can sign a contract and agree too. And there are things they cant agree to signing a contract even if they want to as it is a relinquishing of a certain right they are guaranteed. so if you write a contract that does that, you may have a big wake up call when you walk in a courtroom with it. People still try to corrupt the language and do it though. Because they are stupid and think they can get away with it. But one person calls b.s. on the contract and you end up in the court and that is when it hits the fan. My attorney warned me over this more than once. careful what you put in one, and you cant put in whatever you want, no matter how much you might want to. Go too far, the judge will take it out on you.

 

[bribrius]

off subject. But same with prenups I think. I know when I did mine years ago (nolonger in effect and im broke now anyways) my old attorney told me the same thing. if I didn't volunteer to give up enough in the prenup to make it seem equitable or fair then in the divorce the judge would make sure I gave even more. course my first thought was "okay, we divorce I want her to get little to nothing make it happen". But he corrected me on that very quickly. Also said children trump. prenup cant supercede child welfare the judge would drop or toss if it came down to child welfare in divorce. so I volunteered what I thought would be fair. it is all about fair, equitable trade, not one sided, not too right restrictive, blah blah. id check with a attorney.

edit: something else.
Big words don't help either unless you are paying for them to have it reviewed by their own lawyer. If they walk into court and say "I didn't understand what I was signing I guess" it can open a entire can of worms. I had this one contract I thought was bullet proof. Lawyer thought about it, came back and said "if they don't understand it, you are going to have trouble enforcing this." Basically (forget the term) but it needs to be reasonably understandable by the average person. Reasonably. which means at least most of it should be fairly self explanatory and clear for the average person. to avoid a court room issue of "I didn't really understand what I was signing". And he rewrote it again to dumb it down to layman level.
Don't listen to me though, contract question. Go hire a attorney (that specializes in contract law).


Another mistake people make. Having the wrong kind of attorney. While "general" attorneys have their uses and can handle many simple things. The easier way to cover the gambit if you have lots of varying legal is with a firm that has more than one attorney and more than one specialty. For instance, my attorney is part of a firm. He specializes, but I have something else I need out of his specialty they have a meeting and he consults others. if the case proceeds it would be passed to the attorney that specializes in that or my attorney would take a secondary position. Never been in a case that involved and had to do it but generally, a firm with more specialties and lawyers has more options. So you have your regular attorney, but what the firm gives you is more options (and knowledge to draw from) for what comes your way. And your original retainer is transferred throughout the firm in most cases if the case carries forward. I have noticed they tend to be more expensive at least from my experience than a single or generalized attorney. so for most it may not be worth it if you don't have a lot of business related or personal legal issues. just a suggestion.

 

[JoeW]

Opening up shop in the next year or so. Basement is under cunstruction for a studio. I will also be doing weddings. I have been a second shooter to about a half dozen weddings and have done 4 on my own for family and friends - just a little background-.
I am looking into insurance now, but was just curious on how often photgraphers are actually sued! Is this a common occurence and why? For what reasons (in all areas of photography)?

Depends upon the type of work you do. If you shoot weddings than your likely suits will probably be from people unhappy with their deal (number of photos, quality of photos). If you do corporate work, you're talking about Legal departments contacting you for things like NDA/trade secret issues (or counter-suits when you sue a former corporate client). Shooting in the field and you may get trespassing suits. Models or on-location and you can get injuries suffered by your team. Run workshops (and some get canceled) than maybe breach of contract.

The type of work you do affects the type of legal risks you face.