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... more! Communications Marketing Customer Service Planning Finance/Accounting Risk Management Human Resources Selling Legal and E&O Technology Life/Financial Services Glossaries Management Resources & Links Categories Popular Recent All Back The Legal Status Of Computer Records 4/30/2013 10:39:13 PM by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. THE LEGAL STATUS OF COMPUTER RECORDS If I become involved in a court case, will the court accept my computer records, or will I have to produce the original paper to substantiate my position? ' This question concerns many agents today, so ACORD asked the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson to prepare a legal opinion on the admissibility of computer records in court. Here is what they reported. Because computer systems are used everywhere in our economy today, and ... businesses rely on the accuracy of their computerized records, the courts have been persuaded that computer records are trustworthy. Therefore, like paper records, computer records are routinely admitted as evidence. Generally speaking, federal and state courts agree on the overall standards governing the admissibility of computerized business records. The courts have been concerned primarily with the accuracy of procedures for input and processing, since this is where human error may creep in. Therefore, proof of database quality-control procedures is the single most important factor in admitting computer records into evidence. The courts have not regarded system security-measures to prevent unauthorized tampering with records-as a significant factor, unless an opponent comes forward with evidence that there actually has been tampering. In most jurisdictions, computer printouts will be admissible if the witness presenting them has sufficient knowledge to ...

...h century, virtually all American courts refused to impose liability for negl...d not rely on the possibility of the courts to relax the privity requirement....

... in recent years, legislatures and courts have established a number of excepti...uestion and challenged by a number of court decisions. Once an employee has su...

...d from raising a coverage defense. Courts could say that by its acts, an insur... policies are adhesion contracts, and courts usually interpret reasonable ambi...

... would pay for this situation. The court required Property to sign the agreeme..., the carrier settled the loss out of court without paying anything. Lesso...

... firm sent to a new employee. It cost the firm almost $1 million. Here's what happened: After receiving the letter, the new hire moved his family to LA. Two and a half years later, he was terminated. Upon termination, he sued the company for wrongful discharge, claiming that the congratulatory letter- including the sentence above-constituted an employee agreement. The company settled out of court for the near-million-dollar figure. On the East Coast, a woman was hired by a firm and was given a company procedures manual before going to work. She read the manual as directed. It was written entirely in male pronoun: He will be expected to . .., ' It is his responsibility to . .., ' etc. At work the new employee didn't follow any ... the policies dictated by the manual, and she was fired. Upon termination, she sued for wrongful discharge, claiming that nowhere in the manual did it say that the women in the office had to follow those procedures. At last report, the case was still in the courts, according to a labor management publication. In another case, a firm wrote to a job candidate offering him a job at $80,000 per year. He accepted and was terminated after seven months on the job. He sued the employer on the grounds that the offer letter created a one-year employment contract. Based largely on a 1922 decision in a similar situation, an intermediate appellate court agreed with the plaintiff. The New Jersey Supreme Court, however, reversed the intermediate appellate ruling, overruled the 1922 ...

...covery process begins. Through the court, the plaintiff's attorney will reques...ed or forced in an attempt to avoid a court trial. This whole process can be e...

... in essence, an agreement that restricts the seller's right to compete with the agency sold. The buyer negotiates for this covenant to get an adequate opportunity to win the loyalty of the agency's existing customers. The seller may agree to this restrictive agreement, albeit hesitantly, to facilitate the sale of the agency. These bargaining positions place the buyer and seller in adversarial roles, which can lead to a court action. Such litigation is typically the result of the buyer and seller taking opposite positions with respect to the enforcement or taxation of a covenant. A finding that a covenant not to compete is invalid can devastate the agency purchaser's ability to conduct business. In addition, such a finding can create adverse tax implications to the buyer and seller. This article highlights areas of covenants not to compete, ... tax ignorance as reason to alter a specific allocation to reflect the substance of the transaction. It is dangerous to count on a court to reform the contract because of the parties' ignorance. If the contract is reformed, the amount assigned to the covenant is removed and applied to goodwill, and the unfavorable tax treatment to the buyer may be devastating. The fourth item of concern deals with tax reporting. The one item drawing the most careful scrutiny from the IRS is the inconsistent reporting of a sales transaction for tax purposes. Both the buyer and the seller should agree to report the transaction for tax purposes in a manner consistent with the sales contract provision. If this is not done, both the buyer and the seller could be drawn into unexpected litigation over the matter. The sales contract ...

...d cover carrier insolvency, recent court cases have not completely absolved ag...ibility for carrier insolvencies. The court stated: 'We ... conclude that an a...

...olvency
Up until 20 years ago courts did not treat insurance agents as pr...lvent have so far been settled out of court for small sums. But the number of ...