Archive for category Legal
Revealed! The Procedure to Get HUD/FHA Compliance for the Foundation of a Manufactured Home
Posted by Seomul Evans in Legal on 03/14/2010
According to HUD Code (HUD-7584), in order to gain compliance for a manufactured home, you will need to ensure that the structure and the foundation of the home are constructed in accordance with the Permanent foundation Guide For Manufacturing Homes. It is also essential to secure foundation certifications provided after due inspection to determine compliance of the structure with HUD 7548.
There are several compliance criteria in the guide and these have to be met at the minimum to get certification; some of these criteria are:
- There should be a permanent skirting around the perimeter
- The house should also have anchorage so that loads caused to wind and earthquakes can be resisted.
- There should be permanent piers that support the structure
- And others.
You will also need to get a certification from a professional engineer in your state, mentioning that the foundation of the structure is in compliance with the HUD code. M.Hs are site specific and also loan specific, so there isn’t a one size fits all kind of solution and this calls for the separate evaluation of each M.H.
You may also be wondering why the services of a professional engineer need to be enlisted in order to get such a certificate. The foundation system of a home is crucial and complex and complicated engineering design processes go into its making. So it becomes vital to get the certification done by a professional engineer to safeguard the assets, property and the life of the home owner in the interest of public welfare.
An experienced and qualified professional engineer will be in a better position to evaluate the compliance of the foundation of your manufactured home with the HUD code; professional engineers are also intimately familiar with the working of the manufactured home industry and this makes them the ideal choice to carry out such an important inspection. However, you need to understand that not every professional engineer has the experience to undertake such an inspection and offer a certificate of compliance; there are many engineers who do not have to experience to conduct a proper inspection and evaluation of the site; they are also in no position to determine the compliance of the foundation with the HUD code. So, it is imperative that you hire the services of an engineer who has ample of knowledge in terms of the HUD standards and the HUD code book. He/ She will also need to have a keen understanding of the manufactured housing building industry.
There are very good chances that your manufactured mobile home may be complaint with the HUD code as-is and you may not have to spend a dime to make any changes to the structure. However, there is only one way to make this determination, through a thorough and complete on-site inspection. If your manufactured home is not HUD complaint and if you now intend to make changes to the existing structure in order to bring it up to the standards of HUD’s Permanent Foundation Guide, it will be essential to hire the services of a professional engineer who is familiar with the certification process and the perquisites from day one so that he can guide you in the right direction and save a lot of time, money and effort.
If you intend to purchase a manufactured home, you should definitely ask the manufacturer about its compliance with the HUD code; there are many unscrupulous establishments that make the false claims of HUD compliance. If a certificate has not been furnished or if you don’t have a legal document stating that the manufactured has claim that he structure is HUD compliant, you will be able to do very little legally and may have to undertake construction effort to bring it up to compliance from your own pockets. However, if you do have a document that says as much, you can get in touch with a HUD code attorney. There are several laws in place that protect the rights of the consumer and an HUD code attorney will be able advise you on the appropriate course of action.
Seomul Evans is a Website Marketing consultant for HUD Code Attorneys specializing in Texas hud code attorney.
What Do The Lemon Laws In Texas Cover?
Posted by Seomul Evans in Legal on 03/13/2010
The lemon laws in Texas are similar to the federal consumer rights laws; one of the primary constraints to qualify for lemon laws in the state of Texas is that you need to be a resident of the state to apply under the law if you have purchased a vehicle that needs multiple repairs and even after numerous attempts, the manufacturer has failed to rectify the defects under the warranty; also the vehicle must be titles in the state of Texas to avail of the benefits of this law.
What do the lemon laws in Texas cover?
There are several product which are covered under the lemon laws in Texas such as trucks, defective cares, recreational vehicles, motorcycles and even boats, all vehicles or that were purchased with a written warranty including household products such as computers and other consumer durables are covered by the law. If you are dealing with a defective vehicle, you will need to file your claims with the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Given below is the criteria to file such a claim; however, the decision rests with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. However, if you are not satisfied with the results of such a claim, you can always approach the court in this matter
The procedure and the law:
The steps that you need to take in order to place your claim in front of the state authorities were established in 1991 by the Texas Legislature. There are several lemon laws in Texas that deal with faulty vehicles; however in the simplest form the law states that a vehicle which malfunctions after purchase and it cannot be subsequently fixed by the manufacturer or the dealer despite several attempts is covered by the lemon laws in Texas; however, in order to move court in this matter or to file your claim with the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles; you will have to satisfy one of the three conditions: the four time test, the serious safety test and the 30 day test
The four time test: Through this test the dealer gets two attempts to fix the problem in 12 months or in 12,000 miles whichever expires first after the purchase of the vehicle. The manufacturer or dealer subsequently gets two more attempts to fix the same problem in the next 12 months or 12,000 miles, so essentially, the manufacturer gets four shots at repairing the vehicle in 2 years or 24,000 miles. However, if the manufacturer cannot rectify the problem in these 4 attempts, the consumer can submit a claim or even move court in the matter if a satisfactory resolution is not reached.
The safety hazard test: It would be difficult to determine which is better the four time test or the safety hazard test if a safety hazard indeed exists; however, you need to understand that a safety hazard is interpreted rather broadly, you can expect the rule to be quite stringent to file a claim in this context. Several problems can be deemed to be safety hazards; for instance, a brake failure or even malfunctioning rear lights. Even safety belts that work improperly can be considered to be a safety hazard. However, the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles does offer certain allowance so that the manufacturer can get ample of opportunity to correct the issues before lemon laws in Texas are applied to the matter. However, since a safety hazard can jeopardize the life of the driver and other people on the road, the manufacturer only gets 2 attempts to fix the issue, o the manufacturer can try and rectify the issue once in the first 12 months or 12,000 miles and one more attempt to do the same in the next 12 months or 12,000 miles. If after both opportunities the manufacturer still cannot yield satisfactory results; then the consumer can submit a claim,
The 30 day test:
According to this test, the dealer or manufacturer can only keep the vehicle for up to 30 days in order to rectify a problem; however, these days don’t have to be consecutive. But only 30 days are allowed in the first 24 months or 24,000 miles.
Seomul evans is a SEO consultant for Texas lemon law attorneys specializing in Texas lemon laws.
Revealed! Lemon Laws in California and What They Cover
Posted by Seomul Evans in Legal on 03/13/2010
Consumers who buy a new automobile have certain rights that are protected by the statutes of the federal and state laws. When a vehicle malfunctions while still under warranty, the consumer is entitles to get a replacement or compensation from the manufacturer; if the manufacturer cannot repair the defect even after a reasonable number of attempts. The laws that cover the customer’s right these cases are known as lemon laws and even though there is also a federal provision in this respect; state laws may vary from state to state in terms of what is covered under the act.
In the state of California, the lemon laws are covered by the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act that deals with matters relating to consumer related problems associated with the purchase of new vehicles. As a matter of fact, the law is also applicable to the purchase of used vehicles; as long as the automobile malfunctions while the manufacturers or sellers warranty is still valid.
If the manufacturers cannot repair the defects under the terms of the original warranty; he is entitled to compensate the client with a sum equal to the purchase amount or by replacing the vehicle. The time it which the defect occurs is not a constraint; for instance, the defect may occur within a month of purchase or juts a few months before the warranty lapses; either way the law still holds and the manufacturer is obligated to make amends. However, depending on the duration of use the manufacturer ay deduct some amount of money from the compensatory amount or ask the consumer to pay for the usage of the car while offering a brand new vehicle.
The law does not apply if the defects occur due to abusive usage, so it is essential to follow the terms and conditions of the of the warranty while using the automobile and take proper care of the car and adhere to the manufacturer’s recommendations in terms of vehicle maintenance. This is the best way to ensure that any issues that may eventually arise are covered by the manufacturer and you can approach the court to seek help in the matter.
The term reasonable number of attempts is defined the law based on the defect. For instance, in case of serious mechanical issues like consistent brake failure which may lead to grievous injury or even the death of the consumer, two or three attempts to repair the problem will be considered sufficient while in case of minor faults which may not turn into a hazard, four attempts would be deemed as reasonable.
A special section of lemon laws in California are applied to vehicle that malfunction within 18 months of purchase or within 18,000 kilometers of usage whichever ends first. Even if the vehicle has been out of service for 30 days after purchase due to the defect, the court would consider it enough to order compensation. Another factor that can also work in the consumers favor is if the customer has notified the manufacturer about the defect at least once while repair work has been carried out four or more time on the vehicle without success.
However, you need to understand that these are all provisions under the act; they are no etched on stone. This means that the manufacturer also ha the right to seek legal representation and try to defy your claims in court. So it is essential to find yourself a lawyer who handles cases related to lemon laws in California. Ensure that you take all the vital documents along when meeting with the lawyer so the he she can evaluate the situation and discuss the case with you.
If you feel you are stuck with a lemon, you don’t have to take it lying down. Approach the court because the lemon laws in California have been designed to ensure that the consumer gets his just dues from the manufacturer.
Seomul Evans is a SEO Services consultant for California lemon law attorneys specializing in California lemon laws.
LifeLock Identity Theft Protection Keeps You Safe
Posted by Tom Fitzgerald in Legal on 03/13/2010
Though identity theft has quickly become the fastest growing crime in America there are steps that you can take to protect yourself from becoming a victim. The first step is recognizing what identity theft is and how it can affect you. Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your knowledge or consent to commit a crime, such as fraud or theft. This information can be retrieved through a variety of means, from your mail, computer or bank cards. Identity thieves will steal key pieces of personal information and use it to impersonate you and commit crimes in your name. As well as taking your name, address and phone numbers, thieves will look for social insurance numbers, drivers license numbers, credit card and banking information, bank cards, birth certificates and passports.
Once you become a victim of identity theft, it will literally take you hours and thousands of dollars to rectify the situation. By signing up with an identity theft protection company before you become a victim, you will escape the painful experience that others who don’t enroll will face. If you sign up after you have become a victim it will be too late.
You may not know that your identity has been compromised until you check one of your credit card statements and notice numerous charges that you yourself did not personally make. Or when you check your credit rating or unfortunately are contacted by a debt collector for an unpaid debt. With identity theft growing into such a serious crime, it may take time to resolve any credit issues. The average identity theft victim can spend hundreds of dollars as well as unlimited time trying to repair any damage that has happened to their credit. With identity theft, some victims have lost out of possible employment opportunities, been declined for bank loans and credit cards as well houses and or vehicles due to any negative information that is on their credit.
LifeLock is a company whose number one goal is to protect their clients. To show how serious they are in protecting their client’s identities, they created the LifeLock guarantee; every client who has their identity stolen will be covered under their $1 Million Total Service Guarantee.
The CEO of LifeLock, Todd Davis issued a statement that confirms this firm belief in his company. “No one can stop all identity theft, and don’t believe anyone who says they can, but look at what we’ve done. Our proactive approach has resulted in successfully protecting over 99 percent of our members. That’s unprecedented. And the less than 1/10 of 1 percent that did fall victim to identity theft were completely covered by our guarantee.”
With the stance that LifeLock holds in fighting identity theft, they have been able to reduce the risk of their client’s identities becoming compromised or stolen.
One way LifeLock does this is by notify their clients if a change of address was made in their name. Additionally as part of their service, they will also ensure that their client’s names are taken off of junk and pre-approved credit approval mailing lists.
LifeLock will assist in requesting both the fraud alerts and credit reports on behalf of their clients as part of the service that they offer. Within an hour of signing up with LifeLock each client will receive notice that alerts have been placed upon all their credit reports with the three major credit bureaus in America. These bureaus are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The credit bureaus will normally send out a report notifying you that an alert has been placed on your account – just to confirm the steps LifeLock took on your behalf.
After signing up with LifeLock each client should also notice a decrease in the amount of junk mail, especially pre-approved credit offers that they receive in the mail. Thrown out pre-approved credit card offers are often an easy way for thieves to steal your identity.
I hope you now understand why signing up with an identity protection company such as LifeLock is beneficial to you as a consumer. By signing up as a member each client is protected under their $1 Million Total Service Guarantee. As a member, you can relax knowing that your identity is protected, and even if it should become compromised, there is a company who has your back. They will take the fight off your hands and make sure that funds that have been stolen are returned to you as well as fighting for you to regain your identity and restore your credit.
Tom Fitzgerald writes about identity theft to educate consumers about this growing crime which devastates the lives of far to many Americans. He suggests you check out this site to compare identity theft protection companies.
The New FRB Regulations on Depositing Currency
Posted by Trish Goldfarb in Legal on 03/13/2010
While the Federal Reserve Bank works to improve efficiencies and services, sometimes the changes can cause confusion for financial institutions. In the fall 2009, they changed the requirements for depositing currency and coin. Now, within a matter of months, they are making another change.
With the initial changes in 2009, the FRB stated deposits should be made in plastic bags or canvas bags that utilize seals. This is a modification from the 2003 rule that stipulated the use of plastic bags only.
If you decide to use plastic, keep the following points in mind.
- Bags should have a tamper-evident seal
- Bags must have a reinforced handle and withstand a 100 lb. load.
- Be constructed from 6.5-mil gauge plastic
- Be sized approximately to that of a standard canvas bag
- Contain contents that are clearly visible through the packaging
- Be labeled on the opposite side of the handle showing the denomination, dollar amount, depositor’s name and ABA routing number
Other rules will apply if canvas bags are used for coin. For example, with canvas bags, you must use color-coded tags based on denomination with proper identification and closure.
The Federal Reserve has established these requirements in order to create efficiencies for processing deposits. The requirements help ensure institutions are not sending deposits in bags that are not constructed or intended to handle, transport and process large amounts of coin.
The requirements far out perform what is actually being seen in the field. As an example, it is not possible to fit 100 pounds of coins into a standard coin deposit bag. Nor is it even feasible to lift and carry a 100 pound coin bag without compromising health and safety issues. The 100-pound hang test, however, does show how the reinforced bag handles will facilitate carrying and processing.
A lot of confusion exists regarding the Federal Reserve regulations for currency deposits. Before November 1, 2009, there were no specifications for currency deposits. Recently, the specifications were revamped.
The new approved packaging for currency deposits now require clear plastic disposable bags with plastic or metal containers. When using plastic the bag must:
- Have a tamper-evident seal
- Be constructed from 5-mil plastic
- Be made of translucent material so contents are visible
- Contain no more than 16 bundles
On November 9, 2009, the FedCash Services announced it would again be changing practices in order to create additional efficiencies in processing deposits. Unlike the requirements that went into effect just days earlier, these new requirements would be rolled by region over the course of several years. New York will be the first region affected and the new requirements will take effect on April 5, 2010.
Many people are confused as to what they should expect in April of 2010. The FED wants to track where bags are coming from. This means that each deposit bag manufacturer must register with them. In turn, the Fed will assign bar codes for each manufacturer to use on their deposit bags. This will make the tracking process automatic.
Keep in mind that this new bar coding only affects currency deposits. There are no additional adjustments being made to coin bags. As mentioned previously, these changes are being rolled out slowly by geographical region. The specific timeline of the rollout has not yet been established. The bar coding will be specific to the bag manufacturer, not to the geographical region of deposit. Customers depositing to multiple regions do not need to keep or maintain numerous inventories.
One thing is for certain, the FRB regulations will continue to evolve and change with time. While the changes may cause some initial confusion, they will ultimately benefit the customer with faster deposit processing times.
Trish Goldfarb is a Product Manager at Block and Company. Block and Company provides money handling and security products to banks, credit unions, vending companies, retail stores, restaurants, and casinos. For more information on this deposit bag regulation, please read The New FRB Regulations on Depositing Currency.
Is Hosted Email Archiving Right For Your Company?
Posted by Barry Goodknight in Legal on 03/12/2010
Hosted email archiving is a great way of enabling companies to be fully compliant with all the various rules and regulations regarding business documentation without overburdening them with IT needs. It allows companies to have a complete solution without using valuable capital to create a supporting infrastructure around the need to host and keep and email and archiving platform.
Using Hosted email archiving lowers the upfront costs and replaces it with a manageable monthly fee, dependent entirely on use. It works something like this:
Company A has just been incorporated and is about to begin trading. It’s a small company of only 5 employees, but offers medical insurance as one of the perks. IT has a choice, spend several thousand dollars on some servers, software licenses, a secure network, and an administrator so they can comply with regulations, or they can have it all hosted by an third party vendor and just pay a per month fee for the 5 users.
The vendor will have a secure server farm where the clients applications will be hosted. The applications will be mirrored across several servers, so if one goes down, the others can pick up the slack. These servers will be in a secure environment, on a secure network and be as completely protected as it’s possible to be.
Company A leases a hosted email archiving product from the vendor as part of an overall SaaS service including standard email and office productivity software. It only pays for what it needs, which is the applications for 5 people, and can increase or decrease as the need arises. So if the company does well and expands, it can lease more licenses as it grows. The applications will be accessed sing a computer browser and be available 24/7 365.
So rather than the company having to set up the business, build an IT infrastructure, secure network and get someone in to look after it, they only have to buy 5 computers, a router, firewall and internet connection and they’re on their way. This constitutes a significant cost saving, just when the company needs the money the most. It also keeps things simple, so the company can concern itself with becoming successful, rather than being distracted by other concerns.
That way, all the burdens of hosting systems, complying with the rules and regulations and keeping everything working moves to the vendor. The main benefit of using the hosted model like this is that is absolves the company of any responsibility, or the expense of maintaining a complicated infrastructure and compliance.
So you can see, using the hosted model offers significant benefits for the company in lower upfront costs, simpler operations, secure, reliable applications on a well-maintained system that should never have downtime. It also means that employees can work from anywhere, at any time on anything.
Before making a decision about email archiving and or email hosting you should ask your lawyer to look over the service provider you are planning on using to make sure you will be in compliance. Just because a company offers email archiving does not mean you will be legally protected from a government audit.
Article written by PC Pro Schools on behalf of Smarsh Inc. Hosted Email Archiving
HIPAA Encryption Compliance
Posted by Barry Goodknight in Legal on 03/12/2010
Every business owner in the country knows about HIPAA and HIPAA Encryption Compliance. A law introduced in the 1990’s and updated in 2003 to cover the use and protection of protected medical information or PHI. Although the legislation has been around for a while, a 2006 survey of healthcare providers found only half were completely compliant with the requirements of HIPAA.
With personal information being traded across the world for both legal and nefarious reasons, you need to protect your details as much as possible. You don’t have to be a well-known figure, celebrity or top businessman to want to protect your information, company or otherwise.
Of course if you run a company that has employees with medical insurance, or process or any way deal with medical records or insurance, you have no choice but to protect yourself. HIPAA encryption compliance specifies that any electronic correspondence that has PHI included in it must be encrypted. It also specifies that the correspondence should also be securely archived, time-stamped, indexed, tamper-proof and be available when requested.
Many hospitals, doctors and clinics consult by email. Medical records are also transmitted via email, as are insurance details. We do most of our business over the internet and email, medicine too. This can make people a little uncomfortable, knowing their information is out there somewhere floating around the ether. Even on a short trip, an email is copied at least a couple of times by each email server it transits. Someone with the access and ability could easily get that information and use it for their own gain, which is why HIPAA specifically mentions it.
HIPAA encryption compliance isn’t voluntary, it’s mandatory, and there are stiff penalties for transgression. There are two pertinent parts of the HIPAA that relates to email encryption, The Privacy Rule and the Security Rule.
“The Privacy Rule gives individuals the right to request that a covered entity correct any inaccurate PHI. It also requires covered entities to take reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of communications with individuals.”
This Rule specifies that every effort must be taken to protect PHI when it’s stored, used, viewed and transmitted. The use of email encryption is mandatory for any body that has access to or deals with PHI.
The security rule is very specific.
“Covered Entities must maintain reasonable and appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their EPHI against any reasonably anticipated risks.”
This includes the use of email encryption. Fortunately it isn’t as difficult, or as cumbersome as it used to be. There are now specific programs that sit alongside, or within email clients and servers that encrypt email before it’s sent. This automatic process allows companies to fully comply with HIPAA while not having to spend extra time administering it.
There is now no real excuse for a business that deals in PHI to not be fully compliant. The means are there, the cost has reduced, it just takes the will of business to adopt it.
Written by PC Pro Schools. More info on the laws surrounding HIPPA please visit hhs.gov or HIPAA Email.
Should Your Company be Archiving Email?
Posted by Barry Goodknight in Legal on 03/12/2010
In a recent study conducted by the government it was found that almost 30% of businesses still didn’t have an adequate email archive policy to enable them to comply fully with legislation. Considering that some of this legislation has been around for almost 15 years, it’s a bit surprising.
Originally it was only public companies that had to preserve email archives for a set period of time, in case of inspections by the SEC or other body. Changes in legislation over the years meant that every company had to keep business documents for set periods, including emails.
Depending on the legislation in question, these documents should be kept for a period of between 3 and 5 years. But that isn’t all. They should be accurately duplicated and stored in two different locations, be time stamped, indexed, tamper-proof, secure and free from interference or being modified. They should also be available at short notice to satisfy inspections or e-discovery requests.
An effective email archive isn’t just useful for compliance. It can also prevent loss during disaster recovery situations, be used to monitor employees, monitor the flow of information around and out of the company and to use as evidence in contractual or other business dealings.
Employees don’t like being monitored, but using email archives is a non-confrontational way of doing it. By checking email traffic after the fact, the monitoring is less intrusive and less time-critical as everything is stored. An effective archive will have keyword searches, can flag emails containing those words and highlight them if necessary. This is a great way of controlling the flow of information in and out of the building.
Information is a commodity, and confidentiality is jealously guarded. Even inadvertent lapses of information security can be tracked and remedied by discipline or retraining. Intended leaks of information can also be managed effectively by having an audit trail from the originator to the recipient.
If the company is small and cutting edge, this method of controlling data is convenient as a vendor can manage it without them seeing the information itself. This is especially good for those companies without IT or Legal departments to take care of things in-house.
This kind of solution invariably costs money, but a hosted email archive is much cheaper to run than a local one. There’s no need for extra hardware, staff, administration or training. The vendor takes care of all that. Most of these hosted models work on a per seat or scaled licensing scheme so it can shrink or grow with the client.
So even ignoring the legislative requirements for an effective email archive, it still makes business sense. The ability to control the flow of commercial information and stop leaks as soon as they happen makes sense to any business.
If you need to find out more about email archiving or the laws surrounding email archiving you’re encouraged to visit loc.gov/law or call your nearest government office. This article was written on behalf of Smarsh Inc.
Written by PC Pro Schools sourced primarily from Smarsh Inc. Email Archive Services.
Rule 17a-4
Posted by Barry Goodknight in Legal on 03/12/2010
SEC Rule 17a-4 is the succinctly titled “Applicability of CFTC and SEC Customer Protection, Recordkeeping, Reporting, and Bankruptcy Rules and the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 to Accounts Holding Security Futures Products.”
It concerns itself with the types of records to be created and kept by brokers and dealers for security transactions. The SEC, Security and Exchange Commission published Rule 17a-4 in 2003 to define strict requirements for storage of these electronic records for all its members.
We have certain well publicized corporate frauds and failures to thank for these rules as the SEC drafted and passed them as a result of certain high profile cases in which incomplete or missing records hampered the prosecution of those responsible for significant corporate crimes.
Rule 17a-4 works with Rule 17a-3 of the original 1934 Act to require broker-dealers to create and preserve a comprehensive record of each transaction in an easily accessible format. This also includes records of securities business in general as well as transaction specific records. These records are to be used by the SEC to monitor compliance with the various laws and anti-fraud provisions and financial responsibility standards.
To comply with Rule 17a-4, a broker must maintain records for a specific time period, which varies according to the record. They must also store them in an easily retrievable and accessible manner. They must not be able to be lost, damaged, overwritten, erased or otherwise altered while being stored. There must also be an audit trail that can be plainly followed for each record and demonstrable verification that the records were not altered at any time.
The records must also be duplicated. Indexed, time and date stamped and kept securely for the entire period of retention. They must also be readily available if or when the SEC requests them.
As complicated and burdensome as this may be, this rule is designed to ensure those large scale crimes, and corporate failures never happen again, or if they do that the culprits can be quickly found before they escape justice. The thought is that detailed records of every transaction acts as a preventative measure as well as the means to prosecute should it become necessary.
The good news is that this kind of regulation is already in place under other legislation, so most businesses will already be compliant with most, if not all this rule. The other SEC, NYSE, SOX and HIPAA rules also dictate the need for organizations to retain, document, index and securely store electronic and written records of their business affairs for varying lengths of time.
Chances are that any business, broker or otherwise who already complies with the other regulations should be mostly, if not completely covered for Rule 17a-4. If you’re not a lawyer, bookkeeper, or politician then you’ve probably never seen or herd of SEC Rule 17a-4. To the common person this jumble of letters and numbers means nothing but to people in certain jobs they are all too familiar with it. To find out more visit SEC.GOV.
Written by PC Pro Schools for Smarsh. Article sourced mostly from here: 17a-4
Using the Right Disability Lawyers
Posted by Adrianna Noton in Legal on 03/10/2010
Using the right disability lawyers is a good goal for increasing your chances of success in filing a claim. Some find them through a family member or a close friend who has had to go through the process themselves at some time, and had success. Others simply go through the phone book and make calls and inquiries. And yet others may choose to try the state bar association for recommendations.
Anytime you decide that you are going to make a claim, and you need to go and find an attorney, there are going to be some key questions to ask yourself before you choose to let any certain one represent you. They need to specialize in the particular kind of case that you are bringing. This is a very important thing not to overlook. You need to ask around about any other cases they have taken, and how their success rate is.
A lot of people who have never filed before, but are around others who know someone who has, or even who have filed themselves, come away with a few misconceptions about the process. One myth they always hear, is that everyone gets denied on their first time. This is not the truth, although it is mostly true. Many more get turned down on their first time than get approved, but that does not mean that ALL do.
Another thing people should know, even before they seek an attorney, is that filing for disability due to a problem with drugs or alcohol is not a guarantee of success. If the drug in question, or the alcohol, is considered material to the case, you will not get approved. If immaterial, you may still. This means that if you should quit the use of the drug, or the alcohol, and your condition improve, then you will be turned down. If it would not improve your condition, then you may be able to get approved.
One thing to understand about filing, is the time it can take. Anyone who is considering filing, should get it done as quickly as they can. The solid truth is that the process can be very long and trying, and for people who truly need and deserve the benefits, they need to get the wheels in motion as fast as they can.
After you get denied for the first time, if you do, that is the time for you to find yourself an attorney to represent you. This is when your case becomes more of an appeal than a file motion. You are appealing the fact you were turned down. This takes a lot of know-how, and a lot of paperwork, and most people cannot do it without the aid of a good attorney. And it should again, be one that specializes your type of case.
When it comes to the paperwork involved, these lawyers are worth their weight in gold. They know how to meet the deadlines, and they know just what you need to do in order to position yourself for a successful outcome before a judge when your hearing takes place. It is imperative that you have everything in order if you want things to go smoothly and have a more positive outcome.
Using the right disability lawyers is crucial to many cases. If you should somehow choose one who is not so good with your particular situation, you could be shooting yourself in the foot. These hearings are life changing for many people. And these are good people, who just need help in order to survive, have a meaningful life, and find their place in the world. So if you are one who is considering filing, do so right away, and go ahead and be shopping around for the attorney who is going to be able to do the best job for you and your situation.
As an experienced Ontario disability law firm, every lawyer here is dedicated to fighting for your individual claims and rights. Navigate the legal sector effectively by contacting a qualified Toronto disability lawyer today!